Life and Death
by 3uphoria
Summary: A haunted mansion. A vengeful spirit. The SPR have taken up a new case. The ghost they're hunting loves to attack men and women. Specifically pregnant women. So why is it attacking Mai? MaixNaru! Please RxR! HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It was a hot and sunny day outside of the SPR building. A certain brunette was thinking, completely forgetting her work. She unconsciously slid a hand over her stomach. _'It's been a month already...' _she thought sadly, yet she was happy at the same time. She turned her attention back to her work not wanting to get scolded by her boss.

"Mai, tea." she heard her narcissistic boss say. Mai sighed and went to the kitchen. She quickly prepared the tea and headed towards his office. She knocked and went inside. As usual her boss was reading files and didn't pay her any attention. She resisted a sigh in exasperation. As she stood there looking at him, sad memories flooded in to her head. Mai couldn't take it and quickly set the tray down and left. As she got to her desk she quickly wiped the tears that were running down her cheeks. She suddenly heard the tinkle of the bell over the front door, meaning somebody had arrived. Mai dabbed her eyes with her shirt, turned around, and put on the best smile she could muster.

"Good afternoon, sir. How may I help you?" she told the man that was standing before her. He had dirty blond hair that was ruffled as if on purpose. Beautiful dark crimson eyes and a well built body. All in all. He was a very handsome guy, who couldn't be more than three years older than her. She almost blushed at his sight, but managed no to. He stared at her with shock evident in his eyes. Mai was beginning to get uncomfortable.

"Um, sir? Are you alright?" she asked him. He composed himself and smiled a little uncertainly. She couldn't help but notice how his smile increased his natural beauty. _'Why couldn't the real Naru smile at me like that?' _she asked herself.

"Is Mr. Shibuya Kazuya here? I would like to speak with him as soon as possible." He finally said. Mai nodded. "I'll be right back. Just make yourself comfortable." She said waving her hand across the couches, and headed towards Naru's office. She wanted to scream. Just after she had practically ran out of his office, she had to go back in. Mai knocked twice and informed him of a waiting client.

_**Naru's POV**_

As soon as she came in with my tea, I felt her gaze on me. I was waiting for her to say that my tea was ready, but she didn't. Not one word came from her mouth. I kept pretending that I was reading the file in my hand. She suddenly put the tray down on my desk and hurriedly left my office without a word. I looked at the now empty space of where she stood just some seconds ago. I let myself frown. Ever since _that _night she had been trying to avoid me. She no longer looked at me in the eye when we talked and she didn't smile at me with that beautiful smile I love so much. I had to admit, it was killing me inside.

One month. One month since _that _night. The night that sent me to heaven while still being alive. But also the night I had to pretend never happened. And that hurt me more than anything. My hatred for Masako had grown more than ever. She knew what we had done and threatened to spill my secret if I didn't pretend it never happened. To top it off, pretend that both Masako and I were together.

My secret. Something that would make her loose her trust in me. If there was any left... I had hurt her. And I would never forgive myself for that. Voices interrupted my thoughts. It was Mai and another I did not recognize. Probably a client. I drank some of my tea and waited to see what happened next. I heard someone knock on my door, knowing who it was, I slipped my mask back on. It was Mai.

"Naru, there's a client waiting out in the living room for you." she said not looking at me in the eye. But for a fraction of a second, her eyes met mine as she was leaving. I noticed that they were red and wet. _'Could she have been crying?' _I asked myself. That thought pained me. I never liked seeing her cry. I stood up and took an extra minute to compose myself. I headed out of my office and knocked on the door of that to the office of Lin. My other assistant. I opened it and he turned to me.

"Lin, come to the living room. Seems like we have a client." I said and he nodded grabbing his laptop. We both headed towards the living room. I was curious to see what the person had to say.

_**Normal POV**_

Naru and Lin entered the living room. Lin took a seat on an armchair close to the biggest couch. He set his laptop on his lap and got ready to take notes. Naru sat on the biggest couch across the one the client was sitting on. Mai went in with a tray of tea. She set the tray down on the coffee table and begun preparing a cup of tea for both Naru and the client. Before anyone could say anything the front door swung open revealing Bou-san, Ayako, John, and Masako.

"Good afternoon. We just dropped by to see what you guys were up to!" said Bou-san smiling. He looked around and finally noticed that they were with a client. Naru sent him a glare. "If you don't mind Bou-san. We're with a client." He said coldly. Bou-san including John, Ayako, and Masako sat down, not wanting to be glared at by Naru. Of course Masako sat herself next to Naru while the others either stood or sat on some other small chairs.

Seeing Masako sitting beside Naru made Mai angry and sad at the same time. She decided to hide her feelings and set a cup of tea in front of Naru. Then, she handed the stranger one too and sat beside him. Though she didn't sit very close. The stranger thanked her and smiled at her almost adoringly, making Mai blush. She turned her gaze to the floor. This made Naru boil inside.

"My name is Ryuuji Misaki. Thank you for accepting to see me." The client said. Naru drank some of his tea. "Why did you come here?" Naru asked coldly. Ryuuji stared at him as if calculating his next move. "Well, you are ghost hunters, right? You do research on paranormal things?" He asked. Naru glared at him, making Mai answer for him while giving Naru a stern look. Forgetting her past dilemma.

"Yes we are. Can you tell us what your problem is Misaki-san?" she asked him. He looked at her and smiled. "Please, just call me Ryuuji." he said. Once again Mai blushed. Naru's anger increased and he continued glaring at Ryuuji. Both Lin and Bou-san noticed it. Bou-san slightly snickered and Lin just smirked.

"Well, it's hard to explain. The house I live in has been in my family for three generations. But nothing that has happened lately in the past month has happened before." he said frustration evident in his face.

"What do you mean?" asked Naru. Ryuuji tightened his grip around his cup of tea. His eyes became hard and even more frustrated. "Well, it all started a month ago. We thought nothing of it at first, but I along with most of my servants have been attacked. Doors open and close abruptly. Noises and voices can be heard in the house where no one would be. Some of my maids say they here thumps and footsteps on a bedroom on the second floor. On some nights, you could hear music coming from the ballroom on the first floor. My sister arrived two weeks ago to visit me on vacation. She was attacked and almost killed. And what's worse...two of my maids have been found dead. The authorities couldn't make heads or tails of it. They said they didn't know what killed my maids." he finished, his eyes showing worry and sadness. Mai, who had gasped somewhere in his story, felt sorry for him. Naru measured the weight of the situation.

"We'll take your case. We'll need a room prepared. It will serve as our base. We also need rooms to sleep in." Naru said standing up. Ryuuji nodded and smiled gratefully. "Thank you. I'll be waiting." he bowed. He stole a glance towards Mai, who was busy putting the cups back in the tray, before leaving. He went out the door with a glare on his back, given by Naru.

"Get ready to leave tomorrow at 9:00. Don't be late" said Naru giving Mai a significant look. He loved looking at her but cut it short knowing that Masako was there. He went to his office to get the things they were to need, ready.

* * *

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Mai pressed her forehead against the window and sighed. This trip was taking longer than she had thought. They had already been on the road for an hour and thirty minutes. Even after they had gotten directions to arrive at the house, she never thought it would take longer than an hour to get there. Mai glanced at the others that were in the van with her. She couldn't have been more bored and depressed.

_~*Flashback*~_

_Everyone was at the SPR building except for a certain someone. As usual Mai was running late. Everybody had taken a seat on the couches waiting for her. They had packed everything they were going to need and their luggage._

_**Mai's POV**_

_I was running late. "Naru's gonna kill me!" I said to no one in particular while running to the SPR building. I stopped once I saw that I was almost there and began walking, trying to calm myself. Before I was able to go in, I spotted a man eating fish and in my condition I started to feel nauseous and knew I wouldn't be able to put it off, so I quickly put my luggage down and bent over some grass and threw up. I grimaced at the taste of my mouth and got a water bottle I had in my messenger bag. I got a small portion of the water in my mouth and swished it in my mouth to wash out the worst, then I drank some. I composed myself as best as I could and went inside. I saw everyone sitting down. Bou-san and Ayako were arguing as usual. John was trying to calm them down. Masako was sitting next to Naru (which I was mad at). And Naru and Lin weren't doing much, but reviewing some files. They looked up at and stared at me. I didn't understand why until Ayako came up to me with a frown._

_"Mai, are you alright? You look out of breath and pale." she said putting a hand on my forehead. "Yeah, I just...I feel fine." I smiled trying to convince her. I didn't want her checking and finding out what was going on with me. Everyone stood up. "Seriously guys. I'm fine." I reassured them. They all headed out the door a few seconds after Naru announced we were leaving. When we were all out of the building I noticed that Bou-san had brought his car._

_"John, Mai, Lin, and I will be in the van. The rest go with Bou-san." Naru said, then turned to Lin to tell him something. I was confused. '_Why didn't he assign Masako to ride with him instead of me?'_ I could feel Masako's glare on me, but I ignored her and gave Lin my luggage, who offered to put it in the back for me. I kept my messenger bag with me. It had my Ipod that the gang got me for Christmas, a bottle of water, some snacks, a mini-laptop I was able to buy, my cellphone, and my house keys. I asked Lin where we were going. He told me that Ryuuji's house was outside of city limits. I seated myself behind the passenger's seat and closed the door. I heard the door to the seat beside me close and got a whiff of jasmine. '_Masako_' I thought. I glanced to my left and indeed it was her. She must've asked John to trade places with her. John being kind and innocent, agreed. I rolled my eyes and took out my Ipod. I listened to music while texting my friend. Both Naru and Lin had gotten on and Lin drove away._

_An hour passed and I had long since stopped texting my friend. We were passing through a small town and then open road again. I hadn't charged my Ipod that night, so it signaled that it was half-way through with it's energy. Not wanting to waste it's battery, I put it up. My ears were now open for the sound of the steady engine, the rustling of papers and clothes, and the sound of thunder. Funny, it was hot and sunny in Tokyo but as soon as we left the city and headed towards Ryuuji's house, dark grey clouds had flooded the sky. '_Creepy_' I thought._

_~*End of Flashback*~_

_**Normal POV**_

Now here was Mai thirty minutes later bored and tired. She took some pretzels out of her bag and began eating them quietly. She looked out the window and her gaze fell on the road. The white and yellow lines marking the lanes hypnotized her. She noticed that the grass was getting taller and turned her attention to the front. Trees were now on each side of the road and the grass was overgrown.

"Are we there yet, Lin?" she asked. He nodded and she smiled. '_Finally!' _she thought. Somehow her gaze was drawn back to the road. Then, she saw a dead skunk on the road. It's entrails were showing, indicating that it had been run over. This provoked her nausea once again. She had to get out.

"Lin, stop the car!" she yelled. Lin, surprised by her shout, stepped on the brakes. They all went forward in there seats due to the momentum. Mai took her seat belt off, threw the car door open, and ran to the side of the road. She threw up for the second time that day. She held her stomach. The skunk flashed in her mind and she heaved again. Someone held her hair back and steadied her. She had been staggering.

"There's...a water...bottle in my...my bag." she panted. The person responded by handing it to her. She took a huge drink, both washing the taste away and hidrating her. The person let her hair go, but tucked some of it behind her ears and slipped their hand around her waist leading her back to the van. It helped her walk better. Mai, curious as to who was helping her, looked up and her eyes widened.

"Na...Naru." her legs felt weak. He looked down at her. His mask had slipped off and worry was showing in his eyes. "Are you alright, Mai?" he asked. Before she could answer, Bou-san ran over to them.

"What's wrong with Mai?" he asked rapidly. Naru reluctantly took his gaze off of Mai and looked at Bou-san, his mask back on. "I was just asking her that." Mai looked at both of them. '_I can't tell them the truth...' _she thought. "I'm fine guys. I just got...car sick?" she said. They both looked at her as if they weren't sure to believe her or not. "Really. I am fine." she insisted. Bou-san looked at Naru then back at her.

"You better be telling us the truth, Mai. Or..._Ayako_" his eyes shifted for a second, "will be angry." Naru glared at Bou-san, who could only smirk. '_Why would Ayako be mad?' _Mai asked herself, obviously not understanding what the monk had implied. They started to go back to their cars. Bou-san was smiling at seeing Naru's arm around Mai's waist helping her get in the van. Of course Mai was blushing furiously. Ayako and John had started to bombard Bou-san with questions the second he opened the car door. He answered them quickly while following the van.

"I'm going to check her when we arrive. I just hope she isn't sick." Ayako said in a motherly tone. Bou-san could only smile at that. Ever since he met Mai, he felt protective over her. He felt like her father. And who could say no? He was, after all, thirty-four years old. But shh! No one knows that. But that wasn't the sole reason he smiled. What Ayako has said and how she worried about Mai, made him think just how motherly Ayako became around Mai. _'Like a mother to her' _he thought. Bou-san glanced over at Ayako who had a worried face and looking at the van in front of her. He suddenly blushed. Him the father. Her the mother. And Mai the daughter. A family. Yet his mind neglected that thought. _'I don't like that old hag' _he thought, still blushing.

"Oi, monk." Ayako said. "Why are you red?" She raised an eyebrow. All he could do was shake his head.

* * *

A few minutes later they had arrived. All they could do was gawk (except for Naru and Lin). When the client had said 'house' they thought it would have been small and simple, but what they saw wasn't that, if not a mansion. It was very wide and had two stories. Numerous wide and oak-paneled windows could be seen. The front door was huge as well as oak-paneled. Thunder woke them from their trance. They were now standing in front of the door. Bou-san was about to knock when the door swung open, Ryuuji was standing there.

"Welcome. Come on in." He said opening the door all the way. They went inside while greeting him. Mai gasped quietly as she saw the foyer. It was big. The stairs to the second floor were wide and to the right side of the foyer. Maids could be seen cleaning, going up, or carrying towels.

"Thank you for coming. Before anything, I would like to give you a tour to the house. So if you could just leave your luggage here, we'll get started." he announced. They all put it down on the floor, but Mai kept her messenger bag. "The room to your right is the kitchen, as for the left one, is the dining room. Now the hall." Ryuuji said while walking to it. There were many beautiful decorations. Portraits, knights of armor, and some vases with flowers that Mai had never seen before. It seemed as if they were in the medieval times. They had apparently reached the end of the Main Hall, but it branched off to another two smaller halls leading to who-knows-where. _'Woah' _thought Mai. She spotted two double-wide doors and as if reading her mind Ryuuji told them about what was behind them.

"That room would be the ballroom." he said, "the other two halls lead to the servants quarters. Both halls unite at the end." he informed them. Ryuuji led them back to the foyer. Their luggage was gone. "Now, the second floor." he walked up the stairs and showed them all around. There were many rooms, meaning each one of them was going to get a room to themselves. All with their own bathroom. Their luggage were in the hands of seven different maids. "The one that has your luggage will lead you to your room, as well as she being assigned to you." informed the client. Mai looked at the maid that had her luggage and smiled at her. "I will show you to your base once you are done unpacking." He went back down the stairs leaving the SPR memebers alone with the maids. Mai, wanting to break the ice, walked over to the maid with her luggage. She had blond hair, blue eyes, and looked a little older than Mai.

"That would be my luggage." Mai smiled at the maid. The maid smiled back and Mai heard the others doing the same as her. "My name is Mai. Nice to meet you." she bowed. "I am Rosalie." the maid bowed back and begun leading Mai to her room. Mai went in and gaped. The room was huge and she loved it. "Would you like for me to help you unpack?" Rosalie asked. Mai turned around and smiled again. "No thank you, i'll do it." Rosalie nodded. "If you need me, all you have to do is press that button." she said signaling to the button next to the door. Mai nodded and Rosalie left.

* * *

_**Mai's POV**_

When Ryuuji was done showing us the house, I was thoroughly impressed. It was all beautifully furnished. I had heard Bou-san whistle somewhere in the tour. I also saw Ayako with a face as if she was planning to seduce the client. For the money and his looks of course. But I knew she wouldn't go through with it. Ryuuji left us with the maids after he had explained why they were there. There was an awkward moment. Neither side said anything. I was suffocating in the silence. I decided to break the ice and walked over to the maid that had my luggage.

"That would be my luggage." I smiled at her. She smiled back at me. I heard the others do the same thing, I could've laughed. "My name is Mai. Nice to meet you." I bowed. "I am Rosalie." she told me while bowing back. Rosalie began to lead me to my room. When I went in, I couldn't help but gape. The room was huge and I loved it. "Would you like me for me to help you unpack?" I heard Rosalie ask behind me. I turned around and smiled at her again. "No thank you, i'll do it." she nodded. "If you need me, all you have to do is press that button." she told me, signaling at the button next to the door. I nodded and she left.

I began unpacking my clothes as soon as Rosalie left. I hung my shirts in the closet and left my luggage there. Then, I put my pants, skirts, and underwear in the drawers. I put my messenger bag on the bed and just sat there for a minute, admiring how beautifully furnished the room was. I knew the others would love their rooms. Especially Ayako and Masako, who loved having high class things. All of this had made me forget the whole reason I was there. I looked around an saw an extra door in the room. I tried it and found it unlocked. Curiousity got the best of me, so I opened the door and looked around. It was another room. It was pretty much the same as mine. I saw a coat on the bed and went over to it. _'Who's is this?'_ I asked myself when I felt someone looking at me. I looked up and saw Naru standing by the door of the bathroom.

"Naru! What are you doing here?" I asked pointing at him. His arms were crossed and he just stood there looking at me. I dropped my hand.

"Are you really that unobservant, Mai? This is the room that was assigned to me." he said. My jaw dropped. _'My room is next to Naru's?!' _I screamed in my head. Naru's mouth turned into a smirk. I closed my mouth and puffed my cheeks. _'Great. Just great.' _Could I have been anymore miserable? A knock came from his door. "Come in." he said coldly.

"Sir, Master Ryuuji would like to inform you that your base is ready and would like to meet you down in the foyer." said an unknown maid. Naru just nodded and she excused herself. "Well? Are you coming?" He asked me heading towards the door. Defeated, I followed him out the door.

* * *

_**Naru's POV**_

As Ryuuji showed us his home I couldn't help but see Mai's expressions change from impression to surprise. She looked like a child in a museum, interested in everything. She looked adorable. Masako had tried to cling to my arm the whole way through but I had managed to avoid her. I needed to figure out a way to 'dump' her. I was getting tired of having her with me when the one I wanted beside me was Mai. I don't know what you would call what I feel for her, but when i'm with her I feel happy and comfortable. With Masako would be the opposite. I always feel irritable and uncomfortable.

I was still worried about Mai. She had been pale when she arrived at the SPR building and she became sick on the road here. She was the only person that could make me feel so helpless. So...human. Of course to the others I seemed heartless, but my mask always managed to slip off when it comes to Mai. I don't understand how she does it, but she just does. After Ryuuji had explained why the maids were there, there was a silence between us and the maids. I didn't really care about it, but Mai walked up to the maid that had her luggage.

"That would be my luggage." she said while smiling at her. I became jealous of the maid for receiving one of Mai's smiles. I mentally slapped myself for such childish feelings. All the other began doing the same as her. I smirked, _'Only she could cause this' _I thought to myself. I turned my gaze to the maid that had my luggage. Luckily, she had understood my look and began leading me to my room. She had offered to unpack my luggage, but I refused. Before she left, she had told me how to summon her. I didn't even nod and stood next to the bed. I had to admit I was impressed with the mansion. They had good taste in furniture. I took my coat off and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself through the mirror. I couldn't help but confuse myself with my brother Eugene. I hadn't told anyone of my real identity. Oliver Davis was my real name. Lin knew this, for he was the one that was taking care of me on behalf of my adoptive parents. Another one person knew only half of my secret but thought it was all of it. That person would be Masako. I sighed.

I suddenly heard a door open into my room. I heard footsteps. I walked out of the bathroom slowly. My heart made a leap as I saw the person that was standing there. It was my bubbly assistant, Mai. A door was open to the opposite side of the bathroom. It looked as if it was another room. _'Probably hers' _I thought. I stared at her. She had a look of confusion on her face. She suddenly looked up and saw me.

"Naru! What are you doing here?" she asked pointing at me. I had my arms crossed and I just continued looking at her. She dropped her hand.

"Are you really that unobservant, Mai? This is the room that was assigned to me." I said. I had made it sound as if I had known we were next to each other, but of course I had only just found out. Her jaw dropped. I couldn't help but smirk at her. She closed her mouth and puffed her cheeks, making her look absolutely adorable. A knock came from my door interrupting us. I grew irritated. Just when I was able to talk to her without Masako present, someone else had to disturb us. "Come in." I said coldly.

"Sir, Master Ryuuji would like to inform you that your base is ready and would like to meet you down in the foyer." said the maid that was assigned to me. I simply nodded and she excused herself. "Well? Are you coming?" I asked Mai while heading towards the door. I saw her trail after me a little reluctantly.

* * *

_**Normal POV**_

Naru let Mai go through the door first, making Mai blush. She saw that everyone else was getting out of their rooms, too. By the time they had reached the staris, Mai had been bear hugged by Bou-san and Masako was clinging to Naru like a lifeline. She wanted to seperate Naru from Masako, but she stopped herself. _'He only used me as a pass time...' _she thought, tears forming in her eyes. She quickly dabbed at them as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Mai saw Ryuuji waiting for them with his hands behind his back.

"Would you like to eat before I show you to your base?" he asked them. As a response, Bou-san's stomach growled. Mai giggled at that.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." he said smiling while leading them to the dining room. They took their seats and somehow Mai ended up between Naru and Ryuuji. He smiled at her, earning another glare from Naru, not for the first time. A few minutes later two maids came in with a cart full with platters of food. One served the food while the other went around asking which drink they would prefer. "Tea or wine?" the maid asked Mai. She chose the tea. She knew she couldn't drink alcohol, so she happily accepted it. Half-way through the meal, Ryuuji had begun to talk to Mai. She laughed at some of his jokes, while all Naru could do was glare at his plate. _'What the hell does that guy think he is doing talking to _my _Mai?' _he asked himself. His plate began to slightly shake and Mai had noticed this. Mai knew perfectly well that it could harm his body if he kept that up. So she grabbed his hand, which was lying limply in his lap, and gave it a tight squeeze. Naru, surprised by her action, lost his focus on his plate, causing it to stop shaking. Not wanting to let go of her hand, he held on to it. Mai tried and tried again to seperate her hand from his, but failed. In defeat she left it there, though enjoying it somewhat. _'Why is he doing this to me? Does he love to hurt me...?' _she asked herself almost sadly. She had suddenly lost her appetite and pretended to listen to what Ryuuji was saying.

A few minutes later, everyone had finished eating and to Mai's relief Naru had let her hand go. Although her brain thought it was for the best, her heart couldn't stand not being able to touch him. Ryuuji had started leading them to their base, which to her surprise was a library. He hadn't shown them that room before. They all had failed to see that the tapestry hanging in the Main Hall was actually a room. Before Mai could go in, a hand caught her arm. She turned around to see the owner of the hand. It was Ryuuji.

"I wanted to apologize for how I acted the first time we met. It's just that...well, it's something I have to show you. Do you have time?" he asked looking down at her. Mai tilted her head.

"Well, my boss might want me to start setting our equipment up the minute we get in there so, if it's alright with you, you can show me whatever it is that you were gonna show me, here in the base." she said with a hopeful tone. Ryuuji nodded.

"It's not that personal anyways. I think it would be better if I showed all of you." he said. Mai smiled and they both went it. Naru's cold aura went through the roof and some of the SPR memebers actually shivered at the sight of him, including Masako. Ryuuji seemed oblivous to it. He clapped his hands together.

"As you can see, your equipment is all here. Well, I hope you like the room I have set up for you to be your base." he said with a handsome smile. "I'll be back once you are done with what you were going to do." he finished backing out of the room. Naru composed himself and started to give out orders. As usual, Mai had been ordered to set up the cameras. There a total of twenty cameras, and with all the rooms, she didn't think there would be enough. She pointed that out to Naru and he simply told Mai to do her job, which made Mai's blood boil. She went to put a camera in the foyer, the Main Hall, the ballroom, in the hallways towards the servants quarters, one in the bedroom that Ryuuji had mentioned, and many other places. At one point she felt someone looking at her, but she shook it off. Mai had gone back to the base exhausted and plopped herself down on a chair. Everyone else had started to come back one by one. Naru looked up at them.

"This is strange. I don't feel just one spirit here...there's many. There's only one that's different. It's menacing almost evil. It's the one causing spirits to be trapped..." said Masako with a sad edge to her voice. "But what's even more puzzling is that it doesn't stay here frecuently. One second it's there, then the other I can't feel it anymore." she continued, putting a sleeve over her mouth. The others agreed, claiming they too felt something. Naru almost frowned at this.

_'Why would one spirit trap others here?' _Mai asked herself frowning. At that moment the tapestry opened, showing Ryuuji holding a portrait in his hands. It was faced to him, so the others didn't know what it was. He cleared his throat. "I was wondering if I could show you something for a few minutes." he said, now completely in the room. Naru just nodded. Ryuuji smiled. "Great! Now here is something I wanted to show everyone, especially Mai," he said casting a quick glance at her way, "this, what i'm about to show you, is going to blow you minds. This is a portrait of my ancestor's wife." he said turning it around. A squeek came out of Mai's mouth. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. The portrait that Ryuuji had in his hands showed a woman who looked exactly like Mai, with one difference. Her hair was a tad bit longer. She was wearing an old but beautiful dress, her hair was let down, and she was smiling, but with a certain sadness in her eyes. Bou-san who, at that time, was drinking some water, spit it out. "What the...!" he said standing up. Mai's mouth was wide open. Naru was also standing up.

"Mai-chan...she looks just like you." said John with a surprised expression. Mai begun to shake slightly. Something about that portrait was drawing her in.

"I knew it would shock you. Imagine my surprise when I saw a duplicate of the wife of my ancestor attending me in the SPR building." Ryuuji said. Naru was thinking hard. Ayako, who was also shocked, looked from Mai to the portrait. If you had put both of them in the room, you wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. Mai was inching closer to the portrait, unaware of her own actions.

"Where do keep this portrait? We didn't see it in the hall." said Bou-san. Ryuuji turned and smiled at him. "It was in the basement. For some reason it was never hung. I haven't thought of it until now." he gave a small frown. Everyone's attention was drawn to it.

"What was her name?" asked Ayako. Before Ryuuji could answer her, Mai, who was now in front of the portrait, caressed the woman's face. The next thing Mai saw was pure darkness.

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**Thanks for the reviews guys!!!!!!! -Bows-**

**I hope you stay tuned for the next chapter! ^-^**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. Although I wish I did!!! ^-^**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_**~*Mai's Dream*~**_

"_Hello?" Mai asked out into the darkness. She frowned. Dream Naru wasn't there, and this worried her. He was always there to help guide her through a certain dream. He even explained some of its meanings, so why wasn't he here? She turned her head this way and that. _

_Nothing._

_She called out again, but this time she heard voices and some giggling coming behind her. Mai quickly turned and saw that she was now in a beautiful yard. It had clean cut grass, beautiful, rich colored flowers, and tall, strong trees. A teenage girl and boy were standing by the most beautiful tree of all. _

"_Come on Haku-kun!" said the girl. Mai was having a hard time seeing her face, seeing how the girl's back was facing her. The boy leaned against the tree, slightly frowning._

"_I hate it when you call me 'Haku-kun'. I told you before, just call me Haku." he said. The girl giggled and hooked her arm around his._

"_Ok, Haku." She said. In a flash, Haku took the girl in his arms._

"_You know I love you, right Isabella?" he asked her, his eyes soft. The girl tensed slightly in his arms and turned around. Mai let out a small gasp. The girl named Isabella, was the same woman in the portrait that looked just like Mai. _'So that's her name…' _Mai thought. _

"_Isabella? Are you alright?" asked a worried Haku. There was a moment of silence, then she let out a sigh._

"_Of course I do…because, I love you, too." Isabella said smiling. She turned around and looked at him, blushing. He smiled, his eyes showing pure love. Haku bent his head down and kissed her sweetly. Mai smiled at the scene. A bad feeling crept up Mai's back right after she smiled. She turned around. A boy, around their age, was standing behind a tree spying on them. He was grimacing. Mai noticed that he looked familiar, but didn't know why. He was gripping a branch tightly, making his knuckles pale white. He muttered something under his breath that only Mai could hear._

"_Isabella is mine. Only mine." He said. Mai shivered at that and looked over at the couple. They looked blissfully happy. A smile couldn't touch Mai's lips because she knew that something was going to happen, and she didn't like it. _

_The scene quickly dissolved and once again Mai was in darkness. She waited to see if Dream Naru would come, but again. Nothing. Mai's eyelids were beginning to get heavy. She let them close and heard a distant voice calling out her name._

_**~*End of Dream*~**_

"…wake up." She heard a voice say. Mai frowned a little. She opened her eyes slowly, her vision was blurry. She looked around and felt someone next to her. She blinked the blurriness away and sat up slowly. Mai realized that she was in her room. She tried to find the owner of the voice, but saw that no one else was there but her. A feeling of panic rose up her chest. She moved the sheets away from her body and got up slowly. She stood there doing nothing, listening to see if the mysterious voice would say anything else.

Silence.

She moved towards the window and looked out. It was very dark. The clouds were dark grey, heavy with rain just waiting to fall. She let the curtain fall over the window and turned around.

"Mai…" a voice said softly. A breath got hitched in her throat. She let it out shakily and turned around. There was nothing there, yet Mai couldn't shake of the feeling that someone or something was there with her. She hurriedly went out of the room, not wanting to wait for the unknown visitor. She tried to calm herself as she was going out the door. A sudden appearance made her scream loudly.

"Miss, it's just me! Rosalie!" said the panicked maid. Mai stopped screaming and took a huge breath. She closed her eyes tightly.

"Sorry about that..." she said, her eyes still closed. She felt Rosalie help her stand straight. Fast approaching footsteps could be heard. Mai forced her eyes open and saw that almost all of the SPR team was coming up.

"Mai!" Bou-san screamed. She groaned inwardly. Why did this stuff always happen to her? Bou-san was now holding her shoulders and checking her for any injuries.

"What happened? Are you ok?" he asked looking at her. Mai nodded.

"I just freaked out a little bit. It's nothing." She told him. Bou-san sighed. He looked over at Rosalie for a second opinion.

"I was going to check on her when she came out of the room. She looked a little frightened and when she saw me, she screamed. I think I scared her unintentionally." Said the maid in an apologetic tone. She bowed her head, but Mai patted her back and smiled at her.

"No, it was my fault. You had nothing to do with it." She looked back up at Bou-san and tried to look reassuring. She heard a scoff and looked up to see Masako, her sleeve covering her face.

* * *

_**~Masako's POV~**_

I was just about to hug Naru when we heard a scream. There was a slight hesitation in the monk before he ran out of the room. John, Lin, and my Naru followed after. I glared at nothing in particular. I had a feeling that it was that idiot of an assistant that Naru had, who was screaming. I went out at my own pace, Ayako was slightly running up the stairs. As I reached the top, my suspicions were proved correct. That attention seeking assistant was the one that had screamed. The monk was demanding to know what had happened, while she only looked for excuses.

"No, it was my fault. You had nothing to do with it." Mai told the maid, who was blaming herself for the scare. Mai looked back up at Bou-san.

I knew perfectly well that she was the one at fault. She probably did this thinking that she didn't have enough attention when she entered the building nor when Lin had stopped the van just for her to get off and cause another scene. I scoffed and she turned to look at me. I had my sleeve over my face. She glared at me, I could only snicker.

* * *

_**~Normal POV~**_

Mai rolled her eyes at Masako and glanced at Naru, who as always, had an unreadable expression on his face. A few seconds later Ryuuji came running up the stairs.

"I heard a scream. Is everything alright?" he asked a little out of breath. Mai could see that the Rosalie was just about to say something and suspecting that she would take the blame, Mai spoke first.

"Everything is fine. I just…freaked out a little." She smiled slightly at him. Ryuuji had an unreadable expression on his face as he looked at her.

"Other than that, are you alright? You know, you gave us quite a scare when you just suddenly fainted." Ryuuji asked Mai, slightly tilting his head to a side. Mai nodded again. Naru suddenly turned on his heel and walked down the stairs.

"Now that you're awake, Mai. Get to work." Naru said not looking back. Mai puffed her cheeks and turned red with rage. _'Leave it to Naru to make me feel worse.' _Mai thought to herself angrily. Masako, looking like a dog trailing after its master, followed closely behind Naru, making Mai even angrier. She went back to her room, forgetting why she had left it in the first place, and put her shoes on, which had been taken off. She suspected that it was probably Rosalie.

"Would you like me to get you anything, miss?" asked the faithful maid. Mai smiled at her and shook her head.

"No thanks. I'm fine." Mai said as she went out of her room, closely followed by her personal maid. She made her way back to the base, dismissing Rosalie. When she went in, she saw that the rest of the team were sitting on the couches, all of their attention on Ryuuji and Naru. It seemed as if Naru was interrogating him.

"Well, can you tell us anything else about this house that might help with our investigation?" Naru asked Ryuuji while Mai took a seat next to John, who gave her a smile.

"Well…back at the age with my ancestor, whose name was Kyoshi, many things happened, but I'm not sure that they have anything to do with this." Ryuuji said a little uncertainly. Naru opened his mouth as to say something, but was interrupted by a sudden arrival of an unknown woman.

"Wow, when you said you were going to hire some people to help with the house, I never thought that you would hire a pack of ghost hunters, bro." the girl told him, an eyebrow raised. The girl looked surprisingly so like Ryuuji. As if answering Mai's question and apparently that of the others, Ryuuji stood up as to explain.

"Guys, this is my twin sister Kagome." He said, then he turned back to his sister, "I thought you weren't coming back in a while after…your incident." He said looking at her questioningly. Kagome smirked.

"Oh please Ryuuji, you know that since I was a kid I never let a cold stop me from playing outside, right? This is just one of those situations." She winked at him playfully. She let out a breath and looked at the team. "So you gonna introduce me to them or what?" she asked him. Ryuuji looked around.

"The boss of this team is Kazuya Shibuya," he said pointing at Naru, "the rest are Houshou Takigawa, Ayako Matsuzaki, Masako Hara, John Brown, Lin Koujo, and Mai Taniyama." He said pointing at each one of them. Kagome stepped up to Mai.

The only difference between Kagome and Ryuuji was that Kagome's hair was a dark black color instead of blonde. Mai could see that she was pretty.

"You're very cute!" Kagome told Mai while pulling her cheek, making Mai blush. Kagome smiled even more at her. Ryuuji pulled her away, smiling apologetically.

"Sorry about that, Mai", he turned to Kagome and whispered, "will you stop it?" he asked her frowning. Kagome rolled her eyes.

"Ok, fine. So what are you guys doing?"she asked looking around at everyone. Mai giggled. She couldn't help but think that the innocent expression on her face was funny. Kagome turned to look at her and smiled.

"They're trying to gather information about this house, maybe they'll find something that can help them." Explained Ryuuji.

"Oh, well why didn't you say so? Can I help? I know many stories of the history of our house, thanks to our father." Kagome said smiling.

"As a matter of fact, you can." Said Naru looking down at his file. He looked up at her. "Can you tell us anything that might help us?" he asked her. Kagome plopped herself down on the couch next to Mai.

"Duh! My dad used to tell us stories about what happened here at this house. He loved histoy, especially ours." She smirked. She looked over at her brother frowning.

"You haven't told them?" she asked him. Ryuuji scowled at her. "They're just ghost stories our father used to tell us to scare us." Naru looked at him coldly.

"Enlighten us." he told him using a very cold tone. Mai gave him a stern look. Kagome raised her hand as if she were back in school.

"I can do that!" she laid her hand on her lap and continued, "Well it all started when my dad was about twelve years old. He was walking down the hallway by the ballroom and heard some voices coming from inside of it. He went to check out what was going on, when he went in he saw that it was totally empty. But when he was about to close the door to the ballroom, he saw a lady in one of the windows. He described her as being very beautiful but that she had a certain sadness emanating from her. Another time was when he was playing outside in the backyard with some of his friends. They suddenly heard a scream from the forest out back. They went to check it out but found nothing. Oh! And here's the best one yet!" Kagome said with some excitement.

"My dad was once walking through the upstairs hallway, he saw that woman again but that time she looked very frightened and before he knew it, the hallway got super cold and a dark shadow swept over the woman and in a flash she was gone." She finished with a letting out a much needed breath. Mai shivered. _'So some evil spirit is attacking Isabella? Why?' _Mai asked herself.

Naru and the others were thinking hard. Why would a spirit attack another? And why would that same spirit, in theory, attack mostly women? This case was proving to hold more questions than answers. And apparently it was somewhat toying with them.

"You see why I didn't want to tell you guys this stuff? It's nothing but ghost stories. Nothing important really." Said Ryuuji.

"When will be able to interrogate the rest of the maids? We are in need of more information." Said Naru thoughtfully. Ryuuji looked up at the ceiling for a fraction of a second and looked back at Naru.

"Tomorrow, if that's alright with you." Ryuuji told him, his tone slightly hinting a question. Naru nodded and began looking down at his file again. Mai frowned at her boss. Couldn't he at least thank her for the stories? Mai shook her head slightly and turned to Kagome.

"Thank you for telling us the stories." She smiled at her. Kagome got up quickly and took Mai's hand pulling her along. Kagome turned to Naru.

"Hey Mr. Serious, I'm gonna take Mai and seeing how my brother was the one that hired you, that would make him captain and me co-captain, right? So you can't argue." she winked and started pulling Mai out of the base.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go check out the ballroom. Maybe we find something scary there." Kagome told Mai teasingly. Mai was surprised at how that girl could be so charismatic and innocent at the same time. She couldn't stop the smile that was forming on her lips. She had the feeling that her and Kagome were going to become very good friends, and she seemed like a fun kind of friend.

"You know, I was wondering. The maids said that you're called SPR short for Shibuya Psychic Research, right? Are any of you actually psychics?" Kagome asked Mai, slowing down. Mai thought about her answer for a second.

"Well, Masako Hara, the girl wearing the kimono, is a psychic. She can see spirits and talk to them. And Naru says that I have ESP", Mai tilted her head, raking her brain for the words Naru had used to describe her special power, "he said I have an internal radar, enabling me to tell who's a friend and who's a foe. I usually have dreams on a case." Mai said.

"So? Don't we all have dreams? And who's Naru?" Kagome asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"Well, mine are…somewhat different. I dream of things of a case we are on. Like I dream about that past or maybe of something that might have happened in that certain place. It's sometimes scary. Oh and I call my boss Naru for certain reasons" Mai finished explaining.

They had reached the ballroom doors and Kagome turned to her. "You wanna come in? I'm pretty sure that's what you do seeing how you're a ghost hunter. You investigate this sort of stuff, right?" Kagome asked her, tilting her head the same way Ryuuji would. Mai kept her smile on.

"Of course. And if we actually find any ghosts, we exorcise them. Well Bou-san and Ayako do." Mai told Kagome. Before she could ask, Mai answered her question.

"Bou-san's a monk and Ayako is a priestess." She said putting a hand on the door knob. Kagome looked as if had understood and she put her hand on the other knob. They both opened the doors at the same time. Mai looked around, amazed at how large the room really was. This was yet another room she hadn't seen. Chandeliers were hanging down from the seeing. Mirrors were hanging on some walls, making it look even more beautiful. The camera that Mai had setup in there looked very small.

Kagome went to center of it and began twirling around. She beckoned Mai to join her. Mai couldn't resist herself and she too began to twirl around. Happiness went up through her chest. She felt like a kid again. They both stopped and looked at each other smiling.

"Hey, is that a camera over there?" Kagome asked pointing towards it. Mai nodded.

"It's a special camera. It'll help us see if there's any ghost in this room. And…well, the others can see what we're doing right now…" Mai said, flushing embarrassed. Kagome smiled again and began making silly faces at the camera.

"We already danced in front of it. Why not make faces?" Kagome made another face by pulling her cheeks and sticking her tongue out. Mai laughed and began making faces, too. She suddenly got the feeling that they weren't alone in the room. Mai stopped and looked around but found nothing. She knew that the presence was familiar so she grabbed Kagome's hand and went out of the room, almost running. Kagome was confused but let herself be led out off the room.

"What's wrong?" she asked Mai. As they were out of the room Mai had slowed down.

"Nothing. I just thought that we should get out of there before my boss gets mad at me." She shrugged, perfectly hiding her unusual feeling. Kagome also shrugged and they both began to head back to the base.

As they went into the base, Mai made sure to avoid Naru's eyes. She heard Bou-san laughing quietly.

"If you liked to be in front of the camera Taniyama-san, you shouldn't have joined this job." Naru said icily. Mai shivered.

"Hey Shibuya, don't blame her. I made her do those faces. So if you don't mind, lay off of my friend. And I don't care if she works for you. I'm like her second boss, so she's forgiven." Kagome said sternly. Mai looked up at Naru and saw that his eyes flickered with surprise. She couldn't help but laugh. The others soon joined in, making the whole house echo with laughter. The only ones who weren't laughing were Masako, Lin and Naru, but Lin looked as if he were having a hard time not to. Mai had stopped laughing but the others were still at it. Three things happened at the same time. Her gaze fell on to the window and saw a silhoutte of a man. Lightning struck somewhere and lit everything outside, letting Mai see the man. Who, to her surprise and horror, was the same man in her dreams that was spying on the couple, but this time he had blood running down his face. And Mai felt herself being choked by an invisible force. She wanted to scream, but couldn't.

A few seconds later, Mai was bending down, hands on her knees coughing. She tried to take in some breaths but couldn't. Panic spread through her body. But she wasn't so much as scared for herself, if not for her baby. She began feeling dizzy, and couldn't decipher what was going on around her. She was half-conscious when she felt the floor underneath her. Mai couldn't see anything, nor hear voices correctly. She couldn't breath and little by little she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness, but this time it felt different. She felt pressure on her chest and air going in her mouth. The process repeated again, and Mai felt herself growing conscious of her surroundings. Loud voices could be heard around her. And she slowly opened her eyes. A fit of coughs came out of her mouth, somebody helped her sit up to breath better. She looked around for the only person that made her feel extremely safe. Their eyes met and she found her voice.

"Naru! The window!" she screamed pointing weakly at it. Both Naru and Bou-san went over to it, but saw nothing.

* * *

_**~Naru's POV~**_

As soon as the clients sister finished telling us the stories, I got to thinking. Why would that 'shadow', as the girl referred to it, attack that certain spirit? This case was proving to have more questions than answers. It was irritating me.

"You see why I didn't want to tell you guys this stuff? It's nothing but ghost stories. Nothing important really." Said Ryuuji. I looked at him.

"When will be able to interrogate the rest of the maids? We are in need of more information." I said thoughtfully. Ryuuji looked up at the ceiling for a fraction of a second and looked back at me.

"Tomorrow, if that's alright with you." Ryuuji told me, his tone slightly hinting a question. I nodded and began looking down at my file again.

"Thank you for telling us the stories." I could hear Mai telling Kagome. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kagome get up quickly and take Mai's hand pulling her along. She turned to me.

"Hey Mr. Serious, I'm gonna take Mai and seeing how my brother was the one that hired you, that would make him captain and me co-captain, right? So you can't argue." she winked and started pulling Mai out of the base. I looked up as they left. I frowned on the inside. Mr. Serious? What the hell was up with that name?

"I was wondering if you wanted to go check out the ballroom…" Kagome's voice faded out. The ballroom? Why was she going there? I stood up and headed over to the cameras slowly as if I was doing it on pure coincidence.

Both of the doors opened, Mai and Kagome went in. And I raised my eyebrow at seeing the overzealous girl begin twirling around as if she were a little girl. I saw her wave over at Mai and I had a feeling she was going to start dancing too. As always, I was correct. She did. They both stopped and smiled at each other. Kagome pointed at the camera, she asked Mai something and Mai nodded. I couldn't hear them, seeing how I didn't bother to turn the volume up. It looked as if Mai was explaining something to her and she blushed.

'_Why is she blushing?'_I asked myself. She probably told her that we could see them. I smirked. Kagome began making faces at the camera. Bou-san, who was beside me, was snickering. I resisted to roll my eyes. Soon Mai joined her too. I wanted to laugh, but I composed myself and continued watching them. Mai suddenly stopped and looked around. Apparently Bou-san had seen her action and stopped laughing.

"Do you think she's feeling something?" he whispered, worry stitched into his voice. I didn't respond. I readied myself to run in case if something happened. But relief spread through my body as Mai left the room taking Kagome with her.

"I apologize for my sisters actions." Ryuuji said, surely embarrassed. A few seconds later both girls came inside. Mai avoided my eyes as she came in. Again, I heard Bou-san laugh quietly.

"If you liked to be in front of the camera Taniyama-san, you shouldn't have joined this job." I told her icily. Mai shivered. I was irritated at her. She knew better than to do those things in front of the camera while being on the job.

"Hey Shibuya, don't blame her. I made her do those faces. So if you don't mind, lay off of my friend. And I don't care if she works for you. I'm like her second boss, so she's forgiven." Kagome said sternly. Mai looked up at me. I felt surprise flicker in my eyes. Mai began to laugh. The others soon joined in. I could hear the house echo with laughter. The only ones that weren't laughing were Masako, Lin, and I. I glanced at Lin and saw that he was having a hard time not laughing. Masako had a sleeve over her mouth as usual. I frowned.

Mai was the first one to stop laughing. I saw a flash of lightning behind us. Something was strange in her look. The next thing I knew, she was bending down, her hands on her knees. She began coughing a lot. Mai fell back on the floor and looked as if she was out of breath. Everyone stopped laughing. I stood up quickly, but before I could do anything, Ryuuji was at her side. He called out her name, but she didn't respond. Bou-san and Ayako were both at her side now.

"She's not breathing!" Ryuuji screamed alarmed. Everything went slowly around me. I couldn't believe it. Was Mai going to die? I began to feel the same pain inside of me I felt when I found out that something had happened to Gene. My body froze, refusing to let me move.

"You need to do CPR on her!" Ayako screamed. Ryuuji nodded and began to give her mouth-to-mouth. Although this was a life and death situation, I couldn't stop the feeling of anger that was rising in my blood. _'Nobody can touch Mai's lips, but me'_I thought furiously. Ryuuji did it again and I could see Mai's eyes flutter.

"She's breathing!" Bou-san screamed. I was surprised at how much relief spread through me as he announced that Mai was breathing again. My favorite brunnette began coughing a lot and Ayako helped her sit up. She looked around and our eyes met.

"Naru! The window!" she screamed pointing weakly at it. Bou-san and I ran to the window, but saw nothing. I turned and saw that Ayako was calming her down, telling her to take deep breaths.

* * *

_**~Normal POV~**_

Bou-san picked Mai up and let her sit on the couch. Naru walked over and knelt in front of her. Her eyes were wild and unfocused. He took her head in between his hands and made her look into his eyes. Somewhere in the background, Masako glared at Mai.

"Mai, what happened?" he asked her firmly. She finally focused on her surroundings and on the person in front of her. Naru repeated the question.

"A man was out there…there was bl-blood running down his face. And he looked at angry. All of a sudden I couldn't breathe. I was scared for my…" she let it drop there, realizing that she was about to let her secret slip. She averted her gaze. Knowing Naru, she knew he wasn't going to let it drop.

"For your what?" he asked her. Mai tried to look for an excuse. Surprisingly, Ryuuji saved her.

"Well what else do you think she would be afraid for? Her life, of course." his voice was surprisingly angry. Mai saw Naru's eyes flash angrily. She stood up.

"Mai do you need to lie down?" Ayako asked her while stroking her back. "In fact, I think we should all go to bed. It's already 11 o'clock." She said looking at her watch. Naru sighed and let them leave, mostly because he wanted Mai to rest. Lin shut down his laptop and left, leaving Naru alone.

He sat there thinking. Anger was coursing through his veins. Not only did the ghost try to kill Mai, but Ryuuji had practically kissed her. He was already planning to torture the ghost somehow or getting it exorcized as painfully as possible. What he didn't know, was what he was going to do with Ryuuji. He glanced up and saw movement in one of the cameras. He got up quickly and went over to them. The figure had passed the camera and was heading to the base, as far as he could tell. He turned around, waiting to see if it was the ghost that he had come to hate so quickly. What surprised him was that it wasn't the ghost, if not Mai. Her eyes were squinting and her pajama top revealed her right shoulder. Mai rubbed her left eye, making her look very cute.

"Naru, what are you doing up so late? It's past midnight." She tried to look at him sternly, but failed seeing how she was tired.

"I was thinking about the case." Naru picked up a file. Mai frowned and grabbed his hand and started to pull him out of the room.

"No, you need to sleep. If not, you might get sick." She continued to pull him along. At first he tried to resist, but gave in when he started to feel the sleepiness he was supposed to feel a long time ago. Mai dropped his hand as they went up the stairs. She grabbed the rail to steady herself. As they walked side by side, Naru began to feel a slight force on him. He turned around to find Mai slumping next to him, to tired to walk. Naru stopped and made her stop alongside him.

"Mai, can you walk?" he whispered. She grunted slightly. Naru got her by the shoulders and began to carry her bridal style. Good thing she was mostly asleep, if not she would have made a scene. She had leaned her head against his shoulder. Naru smiled one of his rare smiles at her action. He enjoyed how close he was to her after all the time he couldn't be with her. He heard Mai whimper in his arms.

"Naru…why did you…use me?" she whispered, a small tear falling down her cheek. He had reached her room by then. He frowned at what she had said, laid her down, and pulled the covers over her. He opened the door to his room and quickly changed his close to lie down. What Mai had said in her dream kept running through his mind.

'_How did I use you Mai?'_ he asked himself right before he slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

**So how was this chapter guys? Good? Boring?**

**If it was, please give me some tips to make it better!! ^-^;;**

**Thanks for the reviews!! –Bows-**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Ghost Hunt. Just one or two characters from here, but that would be all. Thanks again for all of the reviews guys…or should I say girls? 0.o**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

Mai frowned down at the tea she was making for her narcissistic boss. Of all things to dream about last night, she had to dream of what had happened a month ago. She was actually preferring that she had dreamt of something related to the case, and not about _that_ night, which had brought her into a difficult situation in remembering it all. And making tea during that time didn't help, seeing how it only kept your hands busy and not your mind, making Mai's wander back to a month ago.

_**~*Flashback*~**_

_It had been raining very hard outside of the SPR building by the time Mai was allowed to go home for the day. _

_Lin had left only ten minutes before Mai could even start organizing the things she would need for the next day. Just as she was going to leave, Mai saw that she was going to have a problem. _

_It was raining too hard for her to go walking home and there were no taxis passing by, meaning she would have to go to the other block just to catch one._

_She sighed. This was turning out to be bad, but she got ready to get soaked anyways. Mai was just about to leave when her boss stopped her._

"_Tell me you're not going to be foolish enough to go home with that kind of weather outside." he raised an eyebrow. She could only frown._

"_Well, of course I am. How will I get home if I don't? And besides, the rain has to let up soon." She looked out the window knowing that the rain was probably going to take hours to go away or at least calm down. She huffed._

"_Don't be an idiot, Mai. I'll take you home." He grabbed his coat not caring to look up at the surprised face of the brunette._

_Naru was at the door now and got his keys out, ready to lock the door from outside. He didn't bother to look at Mai as he walked out._

"_Are you coming or not?"Mai saw that the rain didn't deter. She walked out, too embarrassed to look at Naru in the face. They both hurried over to his car and quickly got in as the doors unlocked._

_Mai slightly shook her head to get some of the water out of her hair, but stopped immediately after the look Naru gave her. _

_They were quiet for most of the time Naru drove, Mai giving instructions towards her home. She looked out the window trying to simmer down the heat from her cheeks and traced some of the rain drops that were running down her window._

_A few minutes later, they had arrived at the building that held her apartment. She got out of the car muttering a small 'thanks' at Naru and hurried over to her apartment door. She rummaged through her purse and jean pockets looking for her house keys. _

_She slapped her wet forehead and remembered where she had put them. They were in a drawer in her desk at the SPR building._

"_Damnit!" she muttered under her breath. She looked over to see if Naru had left yet, but by some miracle, he was still there. By that time he must've decided to leave because the engine to his car started up again._

_A knock from the window to the passenger's side stopped him from pressing down on the gas pedal. He looked over to see a soaking wet brunette. She was smiling sheepishly._

"_What is it?" he asked as he rolled down the window. Mai looked embarrassed and uncomfortable._

"_Umm…well, I kind of left the keys to my house back at the office…", she shifted from foot to foot, "Do you think we can go back to get them?" she asked blushing._

_Naru sighed and motioned for her to get in and she obediently did. Mai tried her best not to wet her seat much, but knew that her attempt was futile. She knew that her boss was annoyed at her by the way he drove._

"_Hey…this isn't the way to the office. Where are we going?" Mai looked around at the unfamiliar streets around her. She heard an exasperated sigh next to her._

"_We're going over to my place." Answered the bored voice next to her. Mai didn't have time to question him seeing how they had quickly arrived at his apartment or house or whatever. _

_He got out of the car without another word, making Mai do the same thing reluctantly. They both hurried over to the front door to his home, his key already in his hand. He unlocked it and ushered Mai inside._

_Both Mai and Naru were soaked wet and she was shivering. To her surprise a towel and some ill-fitting close were thrown to her. She looked at the handsome man in front of her with a funny look._

"_Hurry and take a bath. I don't want a sick person to work for me. The bathroom is right next to you." Naru said as he went in a room, presumably his. Even though she was embarrassed, she couldn't stop herself from hurrying to the bathroom that screamed out 'warm and relaxing'._

_It took her no more than thirty minutes to take a shower, change her clothes, and get out. Mai looked around for her handsome yet narcissistic boss._

"_Naru? " she asked out loud. A groan was heard from a room that looked like the kitchen and she quickly ran to it and saw Naru on the floor. His clothes were changed to a dry outfit. His breathing was rasped. _

"_Naru! Are you alright? What's wrong?" she kneeled down next to him and looked at him frantically. Mai touched his forehead only to find the temperature very high._

_She didn't know how she managed to get him to his room and make him lay down, but there she was, taking his shoes off and running to his kitchen to get a cold cloth for his forehead._

_As soon as she went inside his room, she put the cloth on his forehead. She didn't know what else to do. He looked uncomfortable in his clothes and found it necessary to unbutton his shirt and take it off. Mai would've blushed on a different occasion, but his current state made her push away those thoughts at the back of her brain._

_She went back to the kitchen to wet the cloth again. Before she left, she opened the fridge to find the reason of his fever._

_It was completely empty, aside from a carton of milk and a box of eggs. This pissed her off completely. '_No wonder he's very sick. Damn that guy!_' she screamed in her head while carrying a cup of water. _

_She set the cup of water down on the bed-side table and put the wet cloth back on his forehead, frowning down at him. '_How could he be so reckless?_' she focused her gaze on the floor. A motion of the unconscious boy made her turn her attention back to him, putting a hand to his cheek._

"_Naru, are you ok? How do you feel?" she looked at him worriedly. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at her, almost glaring._

"_I'm fine. Now, go away." He turned to his side, the cloth falling down beside him. Mai puffed her cheeks. After all she had done for him, he was shooing her away like a pest? Oh no! Nobody did that to Mai Taniyama. Nobody. Not even the man she had come to love with all her might._

_She walked to the side of the bed that he was facing and turned him around to lie on his back other than his side._

"_Like that will ever happen you narcissist." She whispered fiercely. Again he opened his eyes and looked up at how close she was, and to Mai's surprise and pleasure. He kissed her on the lips. They broke apart a minute after, gasping for air._

"_Naru, what are you…?" she didn't finish her sentence, due to another kiss being planted on her lips. Little did she know that she was being pulled onto the bed with him. His kisses distracting her completely._

_His lips reached her ear and whispered three words that made her resistance melt until there was nothing left._

"_You're mine, Mai." He said before continuing his parade of kisses. _

_Never before had she felt him like this. His warm touch, the smoothness of his skin, and the closeness of his body. She moaned with delight at his careful touch. Not wanting it to end, she kissed him back with her heart in her mouth. His kisses were mixed. They went from lustful, to sweet and innocent then, to passionate, yet she loved the taste of them._

_She had imagined what his kisses were like before, but never knew that his real kisses were a thousand times much better. His kisses were never ending, while she had just the same passion to her kisses as him. _

_Naru had gotten on top of her and proceeded on kissing her on the neck, making her moan again. Mai's hand trailed down his back, his kisses her more and more passionate than before._

_Sometime later, both of the teens were sound asleep. Mai laying down on his chest, while Naru hugged her. Their bare bodies touching and warming each other up._

_The rain had calmed down to a relaxing drizzle the next morning, the clouds hiding the sun from view. Naru's eyes opened slowly and looked down at the sleeping brunette. He didn't feel sick anymore, but he put a hand to his forehead just in case. It was at normal temperature. He carefully unwounded himself from Mai to avoid waking her up, putting some boxers on after getting up._

"_What have I done?" he whispered to himself, running a hand through his dark, silky hair. Sure he had loved to be with her that night, but what would happen if she found out that he had done that on instinct and that his mind was in a turmoil. He sighed quietly and headed to the bathroom._

'What is this…feeling? Every time I'm with her I feel happy. And last night…I couldn't consider that as a mistake, but I don't know what I'll say to her after she wakes up. Will she be angry? Will she scream and begin to hate me? Ugh…not knowing what you feel is the worst thing in the world. Especially with a girl that won't stop shadowing you for a second. Masako Hara. What a pest' _Naru thought as he washed his face and brushed his teeth. He took another second to look at himself longer in the mirror in front of him._

"_Why aren't you here when I need you the most, Gene?" he whispered to the mirror and left the bathroom. A piercing scream made him run to his room._

"_What's wrong?!" he asked the disturbed brunette, who was covering herself with the bed sheets._

"_Did we…last night…how did…why…?" he raised an eyebrow at the unfinished questions she was spluttering out. She looked around and out of the window. To her it looked as if it was just before eight._

"_Are you planning on finishing any of your questions?" he asked sounding bored. Mai was blushing very hard and she immediately put some clothes on._

"_I want to go home now." Mai said, tears in her eyes. Naru couldn't stand to see her like that, so he quickly got dressed, and they both made their way to his car half an hour later._

_Mai didn't say a word the whole way to the SPR building and back to her house. She got out of the car not caring to thank him and went inside her apartment hurriedly._

_**~*End of Flashback*~**_

Tear drops fell down on the counter. Mai's head was bent down low, her bangs covering her eyes. The tea kettle had started to make a high pitched sound, signaling that the water was boiling.

She quickly poured some water in a cup and got the rest of the things ready to make the tea. The way_ he _liked it. Kazuya Shibuya. The father of her yet to be born child.

Mai made her way to the base, her mind wandering back to painful memories.

_**~*Flashback*~**_

_Mai had gone back to the SPR building after a brief time of spending some time throwing up in her bathroom. Her friend had called her before she walked in and Mai was informing her of the happenings._

"_Mai, tea!" she heard her boss say. She quickly apologized to her friend but didn't hang up. The front door opened but Mai ignored it._

"_Yes, Amy. We did _it_. It was just…I don't even know what to call it. He was going to take me to my house but I forgot my keys, and you already know the rest of the story. And no, it wasn't intentional." She rolled her eyes at the wall._

_Unbeknownst to her, the person that had walked in was none other than Masako, who had listened to her whole conversation. Masako's eyes watered and she rapidly walked to Naru's office._

"_You and Mai…were together?!" she whispered fiercely. Naru looked up at the angry psychic._

"_What are you talking about, Hara-san?" he asked her coldly even though he knew what she was talking about._

"_Here's the deal. If you don't pretend that it never happened. I'll reveal your secret. Oh, and let's not forget the most important thing. You have to pretend to be my boyfriend. Understand?" she asked him, with a smug smile. Naru had his cold façade on, but on the inside he was screaming. How the hell did she find out?!_

_Footsteps could be heard approaching. Knowing who it was, Masako launched herself at Naru and kissed him. A resounding clash was heard, as Mai dropped the tray. Shattered cups and spilled tea were all over the floor. Mai's eyes were wide, not to mention watery at the scene in front of her._

"_What…?" she ran out of the room and out of the office before she could finish her own sentence. She broke down in the middle of the street, while some cares honked at her to get out of the way._

_Lin was one of them, but he got out and asked her what was wrong. She shook her head and ran away._

_A few days later, Mai had found out why she got nauseated easily. She had gone to the pharmacy earlier one day and boutgh some medicine, and as an added precaution she bought a pregnancy test._

_When she got home and after she did what she had to, she turned it over in her hand slowly and looked at the answer_

_It was positive._

_Different emotions erupted inside of her. Happiness, sadness, joy, depression. They were a mix of good and bad. Good because she was going to have a baby of the man she loved. Bad because the man she loved, loved another, not to mention that he had used her. Sick or not. _

_This fact brought tears to her eyes. And she knew that she was going to have to keep quiet about that._

_For the next weeks she avoided eye contact with him and wasn't her usual self, unless of course she suddenly forgot about her problems and smiled or laughed wholeheartedly. But in truth, that secret was killing her inside, for not being able to scream it to the world. Yet she wanted to be happy for her, but mostly for her child._

_**~*End of Flashback*~**_

She had arrived at the base and knew that her eyes were red, but risked going inside with her head bent down. She set the tray down on the small coffee table that was in the center of the room and dabbed at her eyes, trying many things to make her eyes go back to a normal white. Thinking that her eyes were back to normal, she went over to hand her boss a cup of tea. As usual he avoided his eyes and sat down, waiting for the others to save her from the forever-typing Lin and her narcissistic boss. The pain was unbearable.

"Oh, my god! Mai you have to help me out on something. It's like, super important!" said an exasperated Kagome. She sat herself down next to Mai and looked at her with a serious face.

"I planned a party to be held here in my big bro's house on Friday! And there's going to be lots of people coming! I need help with the decorations and invitations and whatnot." She said looking very tired.

Mai looked at her with an amused expression. A party? During their investigation? Naru was going to be mad. She could tell this case was annoying him and now a party right in the middle of it? This was going to make his anger go through the roof.

"But, I don't think Naru will be alright with that. I mean this might expose us to more casualties. And besides, that's going to piss him off. He never really liked publicity and a party would not make a difference." Mai said tapping her chin with her index finger.

"Oh come on, Mai! Let me handle that weird boss of yours. You just have to help me with the things I'll need for the party. Please?" she put on some puppy dog eyes. Mai had to laugh at that.

"Ok, fine. But it'll probably be a long talk before you can convince him." Kagome smirked at that. She had a mischievous gleam in her eyes, making Mai raise an eyebrow. A few minutes later, the rest of the team went inside the base reporting their discoveries and such.

"Shibuya-san, the maids you wanted to interrogate are here." Ryuuji said, waving his hand across three maids. They looked to be around their late twenties.

Naru looked at them thoroughly and motioned for them to sit. They sat down shyly, their heads bowed down.

"Can you tell us anything?" Naru asked in an uncaring tone. The maids looked up and one of them spoke.

"They were both so young. Poor Sayuri-chan. She was awaiting a child and her husband was absolutely torn after her death." Said the oldest maid.

"As well as Chiyo. She was very happy and exited for her child. It was sad that her…partner wanted no part in parenthood, yet she held her head up high." The younger maids informed, their eyes close to tears.

"Anything else?" asked Bou-san. The youngest of the three maids nodded slowly.

"They both said that they heard voices and that they saw some sort of shadow looking thing behind them when they walked down the Main Hall. They were both afraid, but they didn't want to alarm Lord Ryuuji. It was the same day that they..." She looked at her master, tears running down her cheeks.

Naru gave a significant nod to Ryuuji and he dismissed the maids. There was silence after they were gone. Mai felt sorry for the maids. She knew the feeling of being excited about having a baby. She that feeling first-hand off.

"Do you see the pattern, Lin?" Naru asked him without looking at Lin. Lin nodded. He looked slightly confused.

"He attacked almost everyone in this house, but killed only two women. Both were with child. But the question is why and how did this start. Maybe by a past experience?" he asked, typing something yet again on his laptop.

That alarmed Mai. They had pointed out something that she had failed to notice. The deceased maids were pregnant. And Mai…she was pregnant. Could it be possible that she would meet the same fate?

Worry and horror crept up her face. No. That couldn't happen to her. She couldn't die and end the life of the child that was growing within her. She would give anything, anything at all for her baby to live. But what saddened her most was that Naru didn't know about her baby, and she wouldn't be able to see what he would think of it.

"Mai are you alright?" asked a worried Kagome. Mai looked over at her and tried to compose her facial expression as best as she could and nodded.

Naru had made the team go back around the house to see what they were able to discover. Mai had been ordered to take the temperatures of each room and glad that she wasn't going to be stuck with Naru, she left.

After taking the temperatures from the rooms on the first floor, she went up to the second one. Mai went inside the little storage room and sighed as she saw where the thermometer was. On top of the highest shelf of the room.

"Couldn't Bou-san put it somewhere lower?" she asked herself. Mai started to climb some sturdy boxes and reached up to get the thermometer. The things in the storage room suddenly started to shake violently and the room temperature dropped down really fast.

Mai screamed at the dark shadow that was sauntering towards her. Her scream was high pitched and knew that someone would be able to hear it. Before she could get down from the boxes she was on, something pushed her, making her fall on the floor.

Blood started pouring down from in between her legs and she felt a sharp from her stomach and her back. Mai screamed louder, tears running down her cheeks.

The door swung open revealing Bou-san and John. They quickly did some exorcism spells and the room quieted down. They looked over in horror at the bleeding Mai. They ran to her and Bou-san grabbed her in his arms, running towards the stairs. John followed not so far behind.

"We need to get her to the hospital fast! I'll take her in my car while you inform the others of what happened." screamed the worried father-like monk. John nodded nervously and ran to the base.

In an impossible time of ten minutes, Bou-san arrived at the small town close to Ryuuji's home. He quickly parked in the hospital parking lot and ran in with the unconscious brunette. Mai had fainted in the car due to the pain, while Bou-san drove over eighty miles an hour.

The nurses quickly directed him to a room, making him lie her down on the hospital bed. A doctor and some nurses ushered him out of the room and closed the door.

Bou-san had no idea what to do. He felt so worried and scared for Mai. He walked over to the waiting room, pacing back and forth. Twenty minutes later, the doctor that had attended Mai called him over.

"How's Mai? Is she alright?" Bou-san didn't skip a beat. The doctor nodded, smiling briefly.

"You're daughter is fine, and luckily so is her baby. Good thing you brought them over quickly, if not I wouldn't know what had happened to them." Bou-san got surprised at the doctor assuming that Mai was his daughter, but what knocked him out of his sanity more, was the mention of the baby.

"Baby…you're saying that Mai is pregnant?" Bou-san asked, his mouth hanging open. The doctor nodded giving him a confused look.

"Would you like to see her? She's awake." The doctor asked the gawking monk. Bou-san could only nod. Before the doctor could go inside, a nurse called him over, leaving Bou-san alone with his daughter figure.

"What did the doctor say?" Mai asked biting her lip and looking at him as if her life depended on his answer.

"He said that you were fine…you and your baby." Mai's face relaxed at his answer, but quickly turned to one of realization.

"When were you planning on telling us that you were pregnant, Mai? After the child was born?" Bou-san asked with his tone hinting off some anger. Mai bit her lip and looked down at her hands.

"Does everyone else know?" she kept her head down. Bou-san sighed and sat next to her.

"No. They haven't gotten here yet. But Mai, why didn't you tell me or anybody else about your current condition?" his eyes were a little sad at the mistrust of the brunette. Mai sighed and looked up at him.

"I didn't mean to make you think that I don't trust you. I just didn't want you to ask those penetrating questions that I'm pretty sure you're going to ask me now." She responded slightly smiling. Bou-san hugged her.

"How long? And who's the father." He whispered softly while stroking her hair. Mai took five minutes before she answered.

"One month and the father is…" but before she could finish the doctor came in.

"Ah. How are you feeling Taniyama-san? I'm glad to inform you that you and your child are safe, but I want you to take better care of yourself. By some miracle you didn't lose your baby." He finished sternly. Mai gave him a slight smile.

"I'm fine and thank you for saving him doctor. When can I leave?" she asked him, Bou-san still hugging her.

"As soon as your father signs some papers, you can leave. Oh and some of your friends are here and are demanding to see you. Should I let them in?" Mai wanted to correct him that she didn't have a father but Bou-san put a hand over her mouth and nodded at the doctor, giving him permission to leave and bringing the rest of the team up.

"Bou-san please don't let the doctor tell them that I'm pregnant!" she begged him. Bou-san sighed at her and nodded.

"Thank you. And someone has to tell him that I'm an orphan. How can my father sign some papers if he's dead?" she tilted her head. The monk smiled at that.

"Actually, Mai. He thinks that I'm your father. So, my beautiful yet stubborn daughter, I'll be right back." He winked at her and left. Not long after, the rest of the SPR went in, even Masako, Kagome, and Ryuuji. Mai smiled nervously at them while they bombarded her with questions. She couldn't stop her eyes from glancing from time to time at Naru, whose eyes were very cold and his jaw set tight.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Can we refrain from making her deaf? She's already in the hospital and they're about to let her go. She doesn't need to stay here longer." Bou-san had come in and sat himself next to her.

"What happened to her? John just informed us that she got hurt and started bleeding, but nothing else." Ayako said as she sat on the other side of Mai. The brunette looked down at her hands by this point.

"She cut her legs when she fell. Some ghost tried to attack her, and it looked to be that 'shadow' that Kagome-san's father had seen. It was really creepy. That much I can say." He didn't hesitate at lying for her. Mai knew she loved Bou-san dearly. The doctor was right to consider him as her father. She slightly smiled.

The room got quiet and Mai couldn't believe that they actually fell for the lie. She couldn't stand the silence and looked up.

"You know, the doctor thought that Bou-san was my father." She cracked a smile. Not long after, the people in her room laughed. Bou-san sulked.

"Aww, Mai-chan. Why did you have to tell them that?" he poked her cheek and she giggled.

"Because I consider all of you to be my family. And having someone to call 'dad' after a long time, is kind of nice. And I wouldn't mind being able to call you that…" she added softly. The others in the room grew quiet. Only two people didn't understand what was going on, but knew it had to do something with Mai's parents.

Bou-san smiled softly and hugged her tightly. Stroking her hair he said, "You can call me that anytime you want, Mai." The others couldn't stop the smiles that were on their faces. The scene before them was so sweet.

* * *

An hour later they were back at the mansion, Bou-san by Mai's side all the time. It was starting to annoy Naru. '_That damn monk is getting a little too touchy with Mai for his own good' _he thought venomously, while glaring at Bou-san.

Sure the monk and the brunette had just declared each to be father and daughter figures to each other, but that didn't meant that Bou-san had to be too close to her.

No matter how hard he tried, Naru couldn't resist himself from pushing the monk away and he himself helping the young brunette back inside the house. Mai blushed at him and Masako glared at her in return.

Naru had had enough of being told what to do by the female psychic and at that moment he didn't give a shit if she spilled his secret right then and there. That morning, he had decided that he was going to reveal his secret to his bubbly assistant and the rest of the team.

As soon as they went inside, they were ushered to the dining room by Kagome. They sat down, and to Mai's relief, she was seated in between Kagome and Bou-san.

They all ate comfortably, Mai made sure of that. She didn't want their lunch to be ruined by her incident. She talked and laughed at some of the jokes Ryuuji said. To her great relief, everyone was loosened up. She smiled at that. Mai never did like it when she made anybody else worry for her, and she wasn't going to start liking it now.

After lunch, they all headed back to the base. They all chatted and Mai went to the kitchen to make tea for Naru, who was getting irritated by the minute. Before she made her way to the kitchen, the doorbell rang. Not seeing any maids, she went over and opened it. She smiled and immediately hugged the person.

"Madoka, you're here!" she let go and looked at the smiling lady before her. She had some jeans on, a simple shirt, and a coat. She also had her bag with her and some folders in her hands.

"Mai-chan, I'm so glad that you're the first person I get to see. I'm hoping to get to see Lin afterwards." She winked at the smiling brunette. Mai laughed at that.

"I was just about to make some tea, but if you want me to. I'll take you to the base first." Mai tilted her head. Madoka shook hers.

"No, let me help you. That way we can give them a little surprise. What do you say to that?" she was inside now, walking with Mai towards the kitchen.

"Thanks! It won't take long I promise. Wouldn't want to keep Lin waiting." She winked at Madoka as they went in and headed over to the stove. As the water boiled, Mai and Madoka talked about random things and informed each other of new things in their lives.

They were still talking as they got to the base, Mai carrying the tray as Madoka told her of how she came to their client's home.

"Naru called me yesterday morning. He told me to do some research on this house and asked me if I could help him with this case. I know, it was strange of how he asked for help. I think there will be a snowstorm coming soon." They both laughed at that and went inside.

Madoka's presence startled the members along with the twin siblings. That moment was quickly replaced by the greetings that they exchanged to one another. Mai had handed a cup of tea to Naru and one to Madoka.

"I hope you don't mind Misaki-san, but I called in for extra help." Naru said with a _I've-already-done-it-so-you-can't-do-anything-about-it _tone. Kagome laughed at him while Ryuuji glared, not caring to hide it.

"No. I don't mind at all, Shibuya-san." His hands were clenched in tight fists. There was a tense moment before Madoka finally decided to break up their silent fight.

"Look here Naru, do you want to know what I found out or not. And don't you start getting an attitude with the man that hired you. You know better than that." Madoka gave him a stern look. Naru sighed, while Ryuuji smirked.

"Fine, Madoka-_san_. What did you find out?" he asked her coldly and everybody in the base turned their attention to the sweet, yet stern woman.

* * *

**OMG! I know this chapter probably sucked, and I apologize if I didn't describe the 'love' scene correctly. I don't know what that would feel like. I haven't even had my first kiss yet!! –Blushes- ^///^**

**Umm…forget I said that. Anyway, if you have any suggestions on how I should continue, please tell me.**

**And the most important thing of all, thanks for the reviews and the courage you guys give me to continue this story!! -Bows-**


	5. Chapter 5!

**Disclaimer:** I **do not** own Ghost Hunt.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Madoka looked at everyone, her face showing slight soberness. She put her folders on the coffee table and sat down.

"Well, Naru. I found out some very interesting information. Would you two like to hear about it?" she asked the Misaki twins. Kagome nodded smiling while Ryuuji gave her a slight nod.

"Alright then." Madoka picked up one of the files and opened it. "First things first, do both of you know the story about what had happened here?" Madoka looked at the twins.

"Well, my father told us that our ancestor Kyoshi had disappeared without a trace and that his wife Isabella was found dead in the forest..." Kagome tapped her chin with her index finger. Mai tensed slightly at that.

"I'm sorry to say this, but your father lied to you and was most likely lied to as well. It was something that your family made up to cover up the tragedy that had occurred here." She paused slightly. "Your ancestor Kyoshi committed suicide, but not before killing his own wife Isabella." This small piece of information shocked Mai more than anyone. Why would Kyoshi kill Isabella? She shook slightly, clenching her fists as to not get up and scream.

Naru, who had merely glanced at her, noticed her reaction and how she struggled not to show it. He narrowed his eyes at her. This piece of information had affected her a lot more than it did to others.

'_She knows something'_ he thought to himself, his eyes still narrowed at her.

"The reasons for the homicide were unknown. The only way that they knew he was responsible for her death was that he had written it himself in his death note. Not to mention that some of the maids back then saw their argument and how violent it had gotten. In the report they stated that he was accusing her of something while she tried to deny it countless of times. He got angry and after that…he became very violent with her." Madoka told them in a hushed voice before continuing.

"They were trapped in an arranged marriage. According to the Isabella's personal maid, Kyoshi was the one that forced the wedding, while Isabella wanted nothing more than to be free of it. But in those times, once you were arranged to be married, you couldn't get out of it."

Mai was listening intently to Madoka's information. She couldn't believe that Isabella was forced to marry a man she didn't love. How did she know this? Because she knew the name of the man she loved. And Kyoshi wasn't it.

"This had all happened at a party they were holding after a month of their marriage. I guess you can say it was sort of an anniversary party." She tilted her head. "After that had happened, that's when paranormal things started to take place here. Especially in the room of where it all started. Apparently they had calmed down only getting a little harsher the date the incident had occurred. And here we are now, the beginning of the paranormal events taking effect once again." She got another file and opened it. "Here's another thing. The deaths had happened in spring. To be more exact, this happened April 13th. Well it happened past midnight on the 12th, making the murder to be placed on the 13th. And seeing the recent events…" Madoka let the end of her sentence hang.

"They might just get worse." Lin finished for her. They had all noticed that it was April 8th. In other words, they only had about four days to wrap this case up before things got worse. "What I don't understand Naru, is that things have been much worse than the previous years. And I mean worse as if it was already the date of the murder." Lin pointed out. Naru nodded in agreement.

"Maybe it's because Mai-chan looks like Isabella." Kagome said jokingly. Though to the SPR team it seemed like a definite possibility. This made Naru groan inwardly. There were a couple of others here, yet Mai had to always be the one that gets targeted the most by vengeful spirits.

'_Why her?'_ He thought miserably.

Kagome shifted in her seat as if she had remembered something important. She suddenly stood up, surprising the others. "You have got to be kidding me! The 13th is Saturday, right? And Friday is the day I was planning to hold the—" Kagome stopped herself before she said anything else and looked down as if she was interested in her feet.

"Kagome, _what_ are you talking about?" Ryuuji asked her, standing in front of her and lifting her chin up. She swiftly averted her eyes and locked her own with Mai's. Mai bit her lip in turn.

"Taniyama-san, what are _you_ hiding from me?" Naru asked her icily as he looked at her. Mai bit her lip harder causing it to bleed a little.

Kagome got away from her older brother and slightly ran over to Mai. "See what you did Shibuya? You're making her nervous, she's even bleeding!" she put her hands up exasperation. Mai quickly wiped the blood away and looked down.

"I'm not hiding anything, Naru." She fiddled with her fingers. She could feel a glare on her, but for some reason she got angry and looked at him directly in the eye.

"I'm not going to tell you anything and even if I was hiding something I wouldn't tell you, Naru!" Her face was red with anger and she stomped out of the room, leaving a very surprised Naru behind. In fact, they were all surprised at her sudden outburst. Only one person actually snickered.

'_Mood_ _swings'_ Bou-san thought to himself.

~////~

After Mai had stormed out of the room, Naru ordered the rest of the team to either take the temperature of the rooms or to see if they could feel anything around the mansion. Naru had sat down thinking hard.

He had composed his outer appearance, but inside he was very surprised and confused. Something was definitely wrong. Either Mai was really angry or she is on her period. He thought a little more profoundly and realized that she was showing symptoms of pregnancy.

His eyes widened slightly at that thought. Could Mai really be pregnant?

'_No, that's not possible…right?_' He thought a little miserably. If she was in fact pregnant…then that would mean that the child that was growing in her womb would be his.

'_Unless…it's that of another man…_' as soon as that thought crossed his mind he felt a surge anger rise up to his throat. He made a mental note, the most important one at the moment, to ask her about it. Because if she was in fact with child, there would be two problems; finding out whom the father was. And the spirit haunting this house would target her with even more reason.

He almost let out a groan, but suppressed it. No one had noticed his troubled look, which only stayed visible on his face for a couple of seconds before it reverberated back to its original emotionless self, except for Lin.

He then decided to ask Naru what was wrong after he got some time alone with him. He had a feeling it was something to do with Mai because it was only with her that his young boss showed emotion or did something out of the ordinary.

~////~

Mai sat down on a chair in the kitchen and sighed. She thought about the information Madoka had shared with them and couldn't help but feel angry at Kyoshi. How could he do that to Isabella?

A maid had stepped into the kitchen and asked if she had wanted anything. Mai shook her head with a slight smile and watched the maid excuse herself out.

She sat there, focusing on a spot on the wall, yet not concentrating on it. From the corner of her eye she saw something pass by the kitchen door. Mai blinked and dismissed it as her imagination.

She got up, poured water in a tea kettle, and set it down on the stove. Again she spaced out as she waited for the water in the kettle to boil. Before Mai realized what was happening, she noticed that she could see her breath. She hugged herself as the coldness of the room made its way under her skin.

She looked around and had a very bad feeling about her surroundings. The brunette could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up and she swirled around faster than she had intended and knocked over the tea kettle with her hand. She winced and gritted her teeth at the burning pain on the back of her hand and looked ahead, not wanting to be surprised by a spirit or otherwise.

Not seeing anything, Mai slowly made her way towards the entrance of the kitchen, cradling her hand trying to ease the pain.

She heard a noise coming behind her. As if someone were breathing hard. A shudder made its way up and throughout all of her body. Swallowing her fear, she turned around slowly. Her eyes met a horrifying sight.

There stood Kyoshi. Blood running down his face, some dripping off the knife in his right hand, his eyes a frightening shade of red, and his clothes torn as if he had just come running from the woods.

He looked at her with a murderous glare. His breathing was heavy and profound. Kyoshi walked towards her, his steps small and slow.

Mai's eyes were as wide as saucers and she shook violently. Her mouth was dry and she felt her knees wanting to give away beneath her. Before she could register every sound right, she heard a piercing scream. Her mouth was wide open and felt the rumbling in her throat.

The scream belonged to her.

* * *

_**~Naru's POV~**_

I had gotten up and started going through the folders that Madoka and Lin had collected. I glanced at the cameras and for some reason I felt worried.

"Naru, what's wrong?" I heard Lin ask me from behind. I turned around to look at him only now noticing that we were alone. I struggled to answer him. I didn't know if I should tell him or not about what I thought was going on with Mai.

I looked at him and saw that his eyes and face were set. He wasn't going to ask me so nicely next time what was going on if I didn't tell him now. He would demand answers instead.

I sighed and sat down while looking at him. I made sure that my face was emotionless. Even if he was my babysitter due to my parent's decision, I didn't really like to show much expression to anyone. Including him.

"I think Mai…may be pregnant." I said quietly. To my surprise, my voice deceived my stoic facial expression and gave off a tone of worry. I averted my eyes from him and looked down at the floor. I heard him take in a sharp breath.

"What are you talking about? She is or you think she is?" He asked, almost as if scolding me. I looked up and met his eyes. They were showing different emotions, but the one that dominated was confusion.

"The latter. I'm not sure. I'm sure you've noticed that she's been acting strange or has that passed you by, Lin?" I asked, starting to get angry for some reason. I felt a slight pause from him.

"No. But what I want to know is if you both have had…relations. Naru, is that child yours?" He looked at me, demanding the answers to his questions. I looked up at him again.

"The answer to your first question is yes. To the second…I don't know. Besides, I'm not sure if she is pregnant. I'm just giving a possible solution to her strange behavior." I ran a hand through my hair and frowned slightly. For some reason I shunned the idea of knowing that Mai had relations with some other guy other than me. And the idea that the child in her womb was not mine and possibly his only made my blood boil with something worse than anger.

I knew Lin was going to want to know now everything had happened, but I wasn't going to tell him. Lin opened his as if to ask something but was interrupted when we heard a scream come from somewhere in the mansion.

I felt the blood in my face go down as I recognized the scream. I ran towards the cameras and looked for my assistant and saw a shadow coming from the kitchen. Before Lin could say something to me, I ran out of the Base and headed towards the kitchen.

'_Mai!'

* * *

_

_**~Normal POV~**_

Mai started to back away from the frightening spirit in front of her. Her brain wasn't thinking straight and all she could do at that moment was move back.

She stumbled and fell back on her butt, knowing that she wouldn't have time to stand up and run out, she put her arms in front of her face and closed her eyes tightly as she saw Kyoshi's ghostly body looming over her. She let out a whimper.

The next thing she knew, she felt a stinging and hard pain on her right arm. She screamed out in pain and felt hot tears run down her cheeks.

Mai forced her eyes open and saw that Kyoshi was slicing and cutting her arm. She quickly put her arms down and backed away quickly, using her arms and hands despite the pain and the feel of her own blood running down her hand and onto the floor. She couldn't stop the tears running down her cheeks and screamed as she saw that Kyoshi continued to advance towards her.

"Mai!" She heard someone scream from outside of the kitchen. She recognized the voice and felt a surge of relief.

"Naru! Help me! Please!" She cried out and tried her best to stand up, but failed as her arm gave away underneath her due to the blood.

She saw a small orb of yellow light zoom into the kitchen and recognized it as one of Lin's shiki. It began to attack Kyoshi and his ghostly body soon began to disappear with a scream. But Mai knew that he wasn't gone, he only fled.

Naru had stood there at the entrance once he saw Kyoshi. He snapped out of his temporary trance and ran over to Mai. He kneeled down beside her, not caring about getting his pants wet with blood, and hugged her tightly.

Mai was shaking and crying in his arms. It broke his heart to see her so shaken up, and the pool of blood around her and that running down her arm didn't make him feel any better.

He stroked her hair and rubbed her back while holding her gently but firmly. Lin stood in front of them, not knowing what to make of the blood. He turned around as he heard running footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

The S.P.R team and the twins stood at the entrance and gawked at the scene in front of them. Bou-san pushed through the others and knelt on the other side of Mai.

"What the hell happened to her, Naru?" He asked both worried and furious at the same time. Naru glared at him, not caring about answering him and he turned over to Lin.

"Get the van ready. We're taking her to the hospital." He barked at his older assistant and helped Mai stand up. She had stopped crying, but she was still shaking.

The others made way for them and watched them go out the front door. Once they reached the front door, Lin told the others, except Bou-san, to stay and closed the door as to prove that he meant it.

~////~

"How is she?" Naru asked while looking through the small window in the door. The doctor sighed.

"She was here this morning wasn't she? The cut was clean, so she has no infections and it won't scar up. Though I did tell her to take care of herself, the loss of blood she suffered last time and that of now is not good for the child. Luckily, nothing serious happened. I already told her to be more careful. Because if she loses blood again…I won't know what will happen to her baby. I would like to keep her under a one night surveillance, just to be sure that both her and the baby will be fine to leave tomorrow." The doctor informed him and patted Naru's shoulder when he saw that his eyes were wide and his expression slightly surprised.

"Are you the father of her child?" the doctor asked him. Naru looked at him and without a word went inside Mai's room and shut the door behind him.

'_So I was right. She is pregnant…'_ He thought to himself as he looked at the brunette on the bed. Mai in turn, looked up at him and quickly looked down at her hands when she saw his eyes. They were cold.

She opened her mouth and was going to ask what was wrong, but Naru beat her at talking.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered fiercely, afraid that if he talked normally he would scream at her. He looked down at her waiting for the answer.

Mai's eyes widened and she gritted her teeth. She didn't dare meet his gaze, afraid that she would freeze underneath it.

"So you already know…" She let it her words hang, and put a hand over her stomach. Naru couldn't tell if she stated it or if she asked.

"Why didn't you tell me, Mai?" He half asked, half screamed. He moved her chin up, leaving her no choice but to make her look at him.

"The child is mine. Isn't he?" He forgot about the previously asked question and looked at her, demanding answers. Mai couldn't breathe and knew that if she didn't say anything, he would find out either way.

"Y-yes. He is." She couldn't stop the tears that came running down her cheeks and onto Naru's hands. Naru let go of her chin, surprised and somehow relieved at her answer, though he didn't quite know how to take it.

Mai covered her face and sobbed quietly. She felt the bottom part of her bed sink down and knew that Naru had sat down. She didn't want to look at him for fear that he would tell her that he would have nothing to do with her or her baby.

"Mai…" He whispered and placed a hand over her head. If Mai had looked at him at that time, she would've seen how his eyes grew soft and gentle.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He whispered softly. At that question, Mai shook a little more and Naru knew she had begun to cry more.

The door to the room opened and Bou-san went in followed by Lin. They looked at both teenagers trying to figure out what was happening.

Mai looked up at them, her eyes red and watery. Bou-san walked over to her and hugged her. Mai whispered something so low that only Bou-san heard. His eyes widened and he looked over at the raven haired boy whose face was now stoic.

"We need to talk." Bou-san said to Lin. Mai pulled on his sleeve. And Bou-san shook his head.

"It's inevitable, Mai. He will have to know other than Naru and I." He informed her. Naru narrowed his eyes at the monk.

"You mean you knew about this, monk?" He asked Bou-san icily. The said monk merely nodded. This angered Naru. How could Mai tell the monk about her situation and not him? He was after all the father of her baby.

"Naru, is Mai actually…" Lin let the question hang and Naru nodded. Lin looked at both teenagers not sure what to make of the situation.

It seemed amazing to him that a mere possibility was true. What would Naru's parents think of this? And what of Naru? Would he take care of both Mai and her child?

Naru stood up from the bed and looked at the monk intently. He clenched his hand into a fist and gritted his teeth.

"Hey monk, like you said. We need to talk. Will you let go of Mai now?" He asked a little harshly with a stoic face.

~////~

"Well?" asked an irritated monk while looking at the stoic boy in front of him. Lin was looking in between both of them, not quite sure if he should ask questions or to leave it all to Bou-san.

"Can you please explain to me why Mai told you instead of me, Takigawa-san?" Naru looked at Bou-san with the coldest glare he could muster. He was clenching one of his hands into a fist so tightly that his knuckles were pale white.

It took Bou-san all he could not to flinch away from Naru. He sat up straight as if to send a silent message that he wasn't afraid of his glare and cleared his throat.

"Well, what else would she have done? I mean, you are going out with Masako, right? You know very well that Mai doesn't get in the way of people and their relationships. And that's the reason she told me instead of you. Though, she never told me the name of the father. It surprised me as much as you and Lin when I put two and two together." Bou-san replied firmly with a trace of fury towards the boy.

Naru looked down at the floor. He was mentally slapping himself for forgetting about his "relationship" with Masako. It had never occurred to him that something of this scale would happen. He knew he should've ended that so-called relationship with Masako and told everyone the truth. Who knew that his secret would come to hurt Mai without her knowledge of it?

It took Naru a lot of self-control not to stand up and punch the wall behind him. Better yet, to go back to the mansion and torture the spirit in the worst way possible. Lin could see his young boss's struggle and went over to him. He laid a hand on his shoulder, only to be shrugged off by Naru.

"What are you planning to do now that you know, Naru?" Bou-san asked him, his voice now calm. Naru looked up at him not knowing what to say. What was he planning to do? "Break up" with Masako and tell everyone the truth and risk being hated by Mai for deceiving them?

"First things first, we have to get Mai out of that mansion. You know what happened to one of the servants that were working there. She was pregnant. The spirit was already attacking Mai for her resemblance to Isabella. I won't risk her or the baby to that...thing." Naru almost spit in disgust after he referred to Kyoshi by saying "thing".

Both the monk and Lin agreed with him. Mai had already been twice in the hospital in less than two days. They didn't want to see her there again with the possible news that the child had not survived.

All three of them were interrupted while planning where to take Mai by the doctor that had attended the young brunette.

"Excuse me. My patient wants to talk to someone by the name of Naru. She said that it was urgent." He said a little concerned. Naru had stood up when he realized that the doctor was talking about Mai and left as soon as the word "urgent" came out of the doctor's mouth.

He almost ran to her room but resisted that urge and quickly yanked the door open to her room. He looked over at the bed and almost went into a frenzy as he didn't see her there.

"Naru." He heard his name being called. Naru turned his head up and saw that she had come out of the bathroom. Naru silently let out a sigh of relief and composed himself. He was going to ask her what she had wanted him for, but stopped once he saw that the bandage on her arm was gone and that blood was sliding down slowly.

"Why the hell did you take the bandage off for, Mai?" Naru asked the petite girl not five feet from him whilst making his way over to her.

Mai didn't do anything as he pulled her into the bathroom and watched him look for the bandage. After about a minute of watching him look around the bathroom, she pulled his hand and stood in front of the mirror. Earlier she had noticed that she was paler than the previous day and new it was because of the blood loss. Her eyes were also kind of puffy from crying that afternoon.

"Naru, look at this." Mai whispered while washing off the blood from her arm and raising it up in front of the mirror. Naru didn't know what she wanted him to look at until he saw her eyes switch from him and quickly back into the mirror.

He turned his gaze over to the mirror and saw what she wanted him to know. The cuts on her arm weren't just any cuts. They formed words. And those same words made Naru's feelings mix in between anger, confusion, and worry.

"Not alone..." Mai whispered softly.

* * *

**WOW. Yes I know I promised a very long chapter, but I also knew that you guys were getting impatient. So I decided to do this. It's shorter than the rest. I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!  
**

**I realize that it sucks. But it's the best I could do. I thought that if I waited until further for Naru to find out, I would get writer's block again. But don't worry, from this small chapter I got ideas for the next to come. ^.-**

**I also realized that Naru and Lin seem a little out of their characters, but if you think about it, finding out that you're going to be a parent or a sort-of-Uncle, can most probably do that to you. Lol.**

**Oh right. One last thing. I just wanted to let you guys know that there was a short time skip in between the first time Mai went to the hospital that morning and the arrival of Madoka which took place in the afternoon. When Mai arrives to the hospital again it's like around**** 6 p.m.****, or evening you could say. Sorry about that. I didn't realized I had sent Mai to the hospital twice, but what else would I have done? I'm making my story full of tense things I know, but hey, it makes for a good read, doesn't it? ^-^  
**

**Well! I hope you guys liked this one! And I hope you'll continue reading and as I said before. Any ideas? Don't hesitate to PM me or to tell me through reviews. ^-^**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Ghost Hunt. (Unfortunately for me)

* * *

**

**Chapter 6**

Naru sat on the couch of their base thinking harder than ever. He was alone, just how he liked it when he needed his brain to do some serious work.

Earlier that day, everyone had gone to see Mai at the hospital, who was told that she would have to stay there for a day of observation.

Of course, she told no one else of her pregnancy and the message that was cut into her arm, due to the fact that Naru didn't let her.

"Not yet", he had whispered into her ear while sitting next to her on the hospital bed, the close proximity didn't go well with Masako, but she didn't complain…well not a lot.

Later, as everyone had gathered around in the base, Naru barked out orders to look around the mansion and outside for anything. No one disagreed or complained as they saw the scowl on his face and heard the icy edge to his voice.

Lin had gone to the kitchen to make some tea for his young boss, glad to be away from the menacing aura that was tumbling down the raven haired boy's shoulders.

As Naru waited for his tea, though not too eagerly for he preferred tea made by Mai, his mind wandered to the thought of his future child and how much danger he had exposed him and Mai to. He silently cursed himself for not realizing sooner what was going on.

He shook his head slightly and focused on the present. _'Thinking of what could've been won't help in saving Mai and…my son'_ He thought shockingly. It hadn't fully settled into his head that he was going to be a father in less than eight months.

But now, it seemed like someone had kicked his head with their shoe and woke him up from a small trance. He leaned forward, propping his elbows onto his knees, and let his hands lay limply in front of him.

His head hung down loosely and he stared at the floor, letting some of his dark colored locks cover his eyes.

Never before had he felt so scared or so angry.

He was scared to lose both the lives of Mai and his child. And he was angry that anyone, including some idiotic revenge-seeking ghost, would want to hurt them or worse yet, kill them.

But he also felt an incredible sense of guilt.

He had been beyond furious when he found out the secret that Mai refused to tell him some time ago. Yet wasn't he the one that was keeping a secret from her and the rest of the team? Wasn't he the first one to break the honesty between them?

"How much more of a hypocrite can I be?" He asked himself bitterly. He knew he needed to tell her about his true identity and the reason why he was here, but he couldn't find the courage.

Naru cringed at the reaction he imagined coming from Mai and tried not to think of what she might do after yelling and screaming at him.

He leaned back on the couch and laid his head back. He closed his eyes tightly and glared at the back of his eye lids.

"Are you alright, Noll?" He heard Lin ask concerned. Naru opened his eyes and turned his head sharply to glare at his Chinese assistant.

"Shut up, Lin! Someone will hear you." He whispered fiercely as he looked at the tapestry/door, expecting that someone would walk in confused and ask questions about his nickname.

"Relax, everyone is still looking around. The maids are cleaning upstairs and the twins are not in the mansion", Lin set the tray he was holding on the small coffee table and began pouring some tea into a cup, "but if you want, I won't call you by that name when we're alone, if not by the one Mai gave you. Even if it's the same thing, only with a different pronunciation." He said as he slid the cup in front of Naru.

"Yes, I would prefer if you did." Naru glared coldly at Lin, knowing that he was teasing him as well as sending him an unspoken message.

Lin nodded and sat in front of him. "What are you thinking about? When I walked in, it looked as if you were in great pain."

"Mai and my son." He answered simply as his eyes traced an intricate design that was carved onto the table.

"Tell me Lin, how is it possible that one person can make me feel…not myself?" Naru looked up at Lin and waited desperately for an answer.

The Chinese man almost smiled but shook it off. "Well, I would say 'What is that which keeps us from falling off earth?', but you aren't asking the right question, _Naru_."

Naru scowled and looked at him a little resentfully. "I think what you want to ask, more like know, is what you feel for her and how you came to feel that way towards her." Lin told the young researcher. "But even an, and I quote, 'idiot scientist' like you would know what you feel for her. Unless… he was right." Lin let a small smirk turn the corners of his mouth.

Naru's glare faltered at the mention of him, but it quickly got strong as he realized that he had gotten insulted, though he didn't even bother retorting.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Naru let his eyes drop down to the table again. Lin looked at him skeptically.

"No? And what of your son?" He asked, letting his voice soften and hush down to a whisper towards the end of his question.

Naru's eyes widened and he looked up at Lin, not knowing what to say. A strange combination of feelings worked their way down to his chest.

Giddiness, dread, happiness, sadness, and…

"Love, Naru. It's called love." Lin spoke out of the slowly reviving feeling that Naru was beginning to recognize. It was the feeling that had dimmed after he saw his brother's death.

Yes, he loved his foster parents, but love was the feeling that his older brother had made him feel first. And it seemed to have ended the day that he died.

Naru hadn't expected to feel it ever again. But was love what he really felt for Mai?

"What else would it be, Naru? I know that you hid your emotions since you were small, but you loved Gene. And I also know that after his…death, you became even more reserved and wouldn't let yourself become emotionally attached to anything or anyone. But even you can't stop what you start to feel towards a person." Lin told the wide eyed boy.

"Who would've thought that a stubborn girl like Mai would break down the barriers around your cold heart and melt it all at the same time?" Lin shook his head in wonder.

Naru looked down, his eyes going back to normal. "I…I love Mai?" He whispered, mostly to himself.

Lin rolled his eyes. "Gene was right, you are dense. I wonder how long it would've taken you to find out if I hadn't decided to sit and talk to you." He commented in a very low voice, making sure Naru didn't hear, who was muttering to himself.

"Lin, I…you're right. I do…I do love Mai…" Naru looked up, and surprised Lin with the look in his eyes.

His eyes showed relief, slight confusion, a rewound happiness, fear, and of course, love.

Sure, Lin had seen worry in his eyes, signifying that he felt emotion with everything to do with Mai, but this would've made him fall back if he wasn't sitting down already.

Seeing the look on Lin's face, Naru shook his head and made his eyes and face go emotionless.

"What?" Naru's voice was cold. Lin blinked and composed himself.

"That was…a strange and somehow out of place kind of thing to see." Lin chuckled softly. He wondered once again, how could a stubborn girl like Mai make this kind of thing to happen? Naru had shown multiple emotions and she even, in an indirect way, made Lin chuckle.

"Yeah, it is." A new voice joined the now stoic men. They looked up and saw Bou-san standing beside the tapestry.

"How long have you been standing there?" Naru's famous icy glare focused on the monk.

"Long enough to hear Lin chuckle, and I agree that that was a weird thing to see. What did you say to make him do that, Naru?" Bou-san teased.

"You came here for a reason. What do you want?" Lin changed the subject, trying his best to copy the intensity of Naru's glare.

"Oh nothing. Just to tell you that we found something interesting." Bou-san shrugged and leaned back against the wall.

_**~///~**_

Mai traced the cuts on her arm and frowned. What kind of sick game was this evil spirit playing?

"Ms. Taniyama? It's time for your check up." A blonde nurse interrupted her thoughts. Mai looked up and nodded. As she got up, the nurse scurried by her side making Mai grimace.

"I'm fine. I'm perfectly able to walk by myself. But thanks anyways…Lea." She had added the nurse's name, which she read the second she saw what the nurse was going to do, for more affect.

The nurse simply nodded and flashed her a fake smile. Mai could tell that Amy was bored or maybe even tired.

After all the tests Mai sat through, she happily walked her way slowly back to her room without an escort. She enjoyed being left alone when she had to think. And she didn't feel like having some sort of life saving bodyguard with her at all times.

Mai suspected that either Naru or Bou-san had told the doctors to be extra careful with her. Once she got to her room, she laid herself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Her eye lids soon began to feel heavy and before she knew it, she was asleep.

_**~Mai's Dream~**_

_Before she could adjust her eyes to the dreary darkness, the scenery quickly changed. Mai looked around again and noticed that she was in a familiar room._

"_The basement?" She asked herself confused. Mai had only been in that room once when she set up one of the cameras in there._

_She focused on the room, wondering why she was there, and saw that the room started to warp. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed that it was getting worse every second._

_Voices snapped her out of her trance and she turned her head towards the door._

"_Nothing was reported coming from here, Bou-san." She heard a familiar voice call out from the other side of the door._

"_Yeah, I know. But that's not exactly what I wanted to show you." The Monk opened the door and walked to the center of the room. Mai looked at him and wondered why he didn't so much as greet her. _

_She waved her hands in front of him and then walked over to Naru. She laid a hand on his cheek and smiled. Of course Naru gave no sign of ever having felt that and looked at the cold room with piercing eyes._

_Realization hit her. _'It's a dream, duh'_ She thought to herself. Mai backed away from her boss and looked back at the door as the others soon headed inside._

"_Well?" Naru asked the monk impatiently. Mai rolled her eyes, knowing that he couldn't see her and looked over at her father-like figure._

"_I came down here to see if I could find anything, as you ordered", Bou-san said with mock in his tone, "and as I told you, I found something interesting." He finished off by walking back towards the wall and he smiled a little smugly._

_He turned around and put his hand on a brick that was protruding out of the wall, almost as if it was about to fall off. _

_They all looked expectantly at him and watched as he applied pressure to the brick. A sharp crack and the noise of stone shifting was heard behind them. They turned around and saw that it was a secret passage. A long flight of stairs led up to some place they didn't know._

"_Where does it lead to?" Naru asked, not caring to congratulate him. Bou-san muttered something under his breath that sounded like 'annoying brat' and looked back at him._

"_I don't know. I went to go get you, remember?" He told him and walked over to stand beside the entryway._

"_I guess it's time to explore this creepy thing." Bou-san whistled and looked at everyone else._

_Mai inched forward towards the secret passage and looked inside. It was dark and musty. In the background, she heard the others shuffle out of the room._

_Her eyes, for some reason, did not want to stop staring at the dark entryway as a mysterious wind blew out from the passage, almost as if it was daring her to go in._

'Creepy'_ Mai shivered and took a step inside despite the warning signal that was ringing around in her head._

_Before she could climb up the first step, something pulled her hand. She whirled around and looked at the thing responsible for holding her back._

"_Mai, don't. It's too dangerous." She recognized the face of Isabella, her forehead wrinkled with worry. _

_Mai glanced at the passage and back to Isabella. "I have to. It's the only way that I'll be able to free you and any other spirit that's trapped here." She said and saw that Isabella ducked her head down._

_Thinking that Isabella was going to let her go, she turned to look at the eerie stairs and braced herself._

"_Well, if I won't be able to stop you…I'll go with you." Isabella sighed while walking up the steps with Mai. _

_Both of them made their way up fearing what would meet them at the end. Not knowing what kind of trouble her spiritual self was getting in, Mai hoped that it was just another place and not an evil spirit._

_Once they reached the top of the steps, a stone wall slid away from in front of them and revealed the master bedroom._

"_This is where I and…Kyoshi slept." Isabella said quietly, her voice quivering. Mai cast her a sideway glance and focused on the room. She knew she needed some questions to be answered._

"_Isabella, can you tell me what happened here the day you died? I mean, what of the other people here that were down at the ball? What happened to them?" Mai looked back at Isabella and saw that she was biting her lip hard._

_Mai waited, but Isabella said nothing. _'Is she afraid?'_ Mai asked herself. And as if answering her question, Isabella shook her head._

"_I can't tell you, Mai. He will be angry at me and try to hurt you more. You shouldn't know the truth", Isabella let go of Mai's hand and walked over to the bed, "but I have watched over you and your friends and I know you are discovering the truth on your own. I'm just afraid that if I give you further insight, he will try to kill you with more reason…" She let her voice drop and she looked down at the floor._

"_If telling me the truth will make him hurt you, then don't tell me anything. I can't do that to you for my own sake." Mai clenched her fists. Her look-alike only shook her head._

"_You see, Mai. I don't care about my well being, I care about yours. And if letting you know the truth will help, then I'll show you." Isabella was now standing in front of her with a determined look on her face. She thrust her hand forward and put it on Mai's chest._

_Before the young brunette could register what was going on, she zoomed out of the master bedroom and down to the ballroom. _

_She saw many people dancing, laughing, talking, and drinking. Their faces were masked to hide their identities. _'A masquerade ball'_ Mai thought in wonder. She blinked and she was back in the master bedroom._

_Kyoshi and Isabella were arguing loudly though no one actually heard them because of the music playing downstairs. _

_Kyoshi, in anger, struck Isabella and dragged her off the bed towards the wall where the secret passageway was at._

_Mai wanted to punch him, but knew that she was seeing the past. She gritted her teeth and watched as he dragged Isabella down back to the basement. Isabella, who was standing beside her, flinched._

_Mai realized what was happening. _'Isabella wasn't killed in this room if not…That's why the basement was warped'_ She thought sadly. _

_Before she could say anything, she was back down in the ballroom. Everyone was oblivious to what was going on upstairs and still mingling around._

_Suddenly, Mai saw black figures enter through every window and closing it behind them. Then finally, Kyoshi entered through the main door. _

_He walked over to the center of the room with a cup and signaled for the music to stop. "Well, I do hope that every single one of you have had a most wonderful night." He looked around with a fake smile. Everyone nodded back smiling._

"_I'm glad. Unfortunately, I am here to end this party. But do not worry, for I am going to end this party with a…surprise." He smiled evilly, and before anyone could do anything, the black figures advanced on the people and began killing them._

_Mai wanted to turn away from the horrifying sight, but somehow her eyes stayed glued to the people who were having their throats slashed._

_Blood splattered all over the floor and walls as screams filled the entire room. Everyone tried to run out through the doors or windows, but they couldn't._

_Mai's wide eyes took every detail in, but something got in her way and prevented her from seeing anything else._

_Isabella hugged the young brunette's quivering figure and tried to calm her down. "It's alright, Mai. Shh, now honey. It's okay." She rubbed her back and hugged her tighter. _

"_I'll skip the rest of this and show you something else." Isabella told her quietly and stepped back from her. To Mai's relief, the scenery changed. She got ready for the next one and wiped the tears that were on her cheeks._

"_Why didn't they mention what h-happened before on the police report?" Mai asked as she saw that they were in backyard. Isabella glanced at her and pointed out into the forest._

"_Because they hid the bodies there", Mai saw the black figures carrying women and men into the forest as Isabella had said, "and then they cleaned up the mess in the ballroom, hence the authorities thought everyone had left before my…murder." The older but young brunette finished and shook her head._

_Mai opened her mouth to say something, but stopped short when the whole scenery shook as if an earthquake was occurring. They both held onto each other for support and Mai saw the fear in Isabella's face._

"_Oh no…he's realized that I have showed you some of what has happened here. We have to leave. Quickly!" Isabella put her hand on Mai's chest again and from one second to the next, they were back in the master bedroom._

_The both looked around and saw the shadow that had once attacked Mai. Isabella stepped in front of Mai as if to protect her._

"_You must wake up, and prevent your friends from coming in here for the time being. For he shall not leave because he knows they will be coming. Hurry, Mai! Hurry!" Isabella whispered fiercely._

_Mai could only nod and close her eyes, willing herself to wake up._

_**~End of Mai's Dream~**_

Mai's eyes fluttered and she sat up quickly as she remembered what Isabella had told her.

"Oh no…guys!" She muttered and ran out of her room. _'How the hell am I going to go over there?'_ She asked herself as she ran into the elevator and waited for it to go to the first floor. When she heard the elevator bell ring she ran out and heard a couple of shouts behind her.

Once she was out of the main doors she looked around, desperate to find fast transportation. "Mai! What are you doing out here?" She turned to the familiar voice and smiled relived.

"Ryuuji! Oh thank god. You have to take me to your house now! Please we have to hurry!" She told him as she pulled his arm. Ryuuji wouldn't budge and looked at her as if she were crazy.

"What? No, you can't. You've been hospitalized, remember?" He pried her hand from his arm and began leading her back into the hospital.

"No! Wait! You don't understand. If I don't go stop my friends from what they're about to do, they might die!" Mai cried and tried to stand still. This caught Ryuuji's full attention and he turned to look at her.

"Please, Ryuuji. You have to take me as fast as you can…please…" Mai felt hot tears fall from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. The young lad couldn't resist her tears and he nodded, steering her back to his car.

"Alright, but once you've saved them, you have to promise me that you'll come back here." He said while starting the engine and stepping on the gas pedal hard.

"I promise, but please hurry." Mai wiped her cheeks and hiccupped. Ryuuji smirked a little and stepped on the gas pedal even more. Mai was thrown back a little as the momentum hit her.

"It was my sister's gift to me. I never thought I would have to use its power. I guess I'll have to thank her later." He informed Mai which confused her.

"What gift? What power?" She asked a little suspicious and looked around for the so called 'powerful' gift.

"This sports car." Ryuuji answered simply and revved the engine as if to show it off. Mai nodded and focused on what she was going to do. She couldn't sit still and she looked through the window, willing for the road to end.

"We really have to hurry. How much longer until we get there?" She asked worriedly. Ryuuji shook his head and smirked. "At this speed… in about 4 minutes." He continued looking straight and they both stayed quiet.

'_Naru…please don't go up there! Please!'_ Mai thought desperately.

**~///~**

Naru watched the team get ready to go look at the passageway that they had discovered. He knew that he would only need a flashlight and let the others get what they were going to need.

Masako, as usual, stood beside him and didn't budge. Ayako decided that she would wait and let the others go.

"Thank you very much for helping, you old hag." Bou-san told her, which started an argument and hitting war with him.

Naru got annoyed quickly and glared at both of them. "If you two are done fighting, would you care to get along with what we were going to do, Takigawa-san?" His icy voice stopped both of them and made them shiver.

"Uh…right, Naru-bou. Right after you." He smiled sheepishly and faced away from the non wavering glare. The raven haired boy turned around and walked out of base, not caring if anyone was following him.

They all headed over to the kitchen each wondering where the passage leads to. The S.P.R team were just climbing down the steps of the basement, but stopped when they heard their names being called out.

"Naru! Bou-san! John! Guys!" The one that was screaming out was Mai, who at that moment was about to run to the base, but followed what her gut was telling her and ran to the kitchen instead.

Before she could even get to the basement door, she saw her friends coming up the steps and breathed with relief.

"Thank god I got here in time…" She muttered to herself and bent down over her knees breathing hard.

"Mai! What the hell are you doing here?" The brunette heard Naru's cold voice, but there was something strange about it. It wasn't as cold as previous times.

"Yeah, Mai. You're in recovery, you shouldn't be here." Bou-san added, he stepped forward to approach her, but stopped when he saw Naru's glare.

"Well, I couldn't let you guys go up that passage and risk ya'll getting hurt…could I?" Mai asked softly while Ryuuji ran inside the kitchen and knelt down in front of Mai.

"God, you gave me a huge scare. How could you do that? You practically flew out of my car without waiting for me to park it. You could've gotten injured, you know." Ryuuji put his hand on Mai's cheek concerned.

Mai, in turn, blushed and looked down. She heard someone cough slightly somewhere in front of her and the shuffle of feet.

"What do you mean you couldn't let us go up the passage? How did you know about that?" Mai was surprised to see Naru standing over her when he was on the other side of the kitchen not ten seconds ago.

"I sort of…had a huge…disturbing vision." She couldn't help but let sadness come into her voice, but that was exactly what she felt. Mai looked around at everyone in the kitchen. They were all staring back at her intently.

Mai sighed. This was going to be a long night.

* * *

**Author's Note: MAANNNNN! Long time, no update story!**

**Dudettes, this chapter was good at the beginning but then it started to lag towards the end. Sorry! And Naru and Lin are CLEARLY OC in this, which I also am apologizing for. But now that Naru has his feelings figured out, he'll be less OC. As well as Lin…well, I'll try my best for them to be!**

**Well, I hope you guys like it and I certainly wish that you stay tuned for the next one!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Mai wrung the corner of her covers as she looked down, hoping that Naru's glares would subside. She could feel the others eyes on her as well. Somewhere in front of her bed she heard Bou-san cough.

"Well?" Naru asked, his voice coated with irritation. Mai looked up and saw that he was standing beside her while the others were standing close to the wall across from him. She bit her lip and sighed.

"Alright, alright. I didn't want to explain while you were practically flying me here to the hospital." She grimaced as she remembered how the others started nagging her for doing something foolish like that, even though she told them she did it for them, they claimed that they would have been able to take care of themselves.

"We're here now. Start talking." Naru urged her on with his look and sat down on her bed. Mai looked at him and the others and sighed again, but she straightened up in her sitting position. She took a deep breath and started.

"Well, I fell asleep and then I found myself in the basement. You could see that it was warped if you focused and that's when I saw all of you..." Mai continued on recounting what had happened to her and what she saw while she was asleep. Once she got to the part of the massacre that happened in the ballroom, she shuddered and tried her best to not described it as well as she had seen it, then went on with how Isabella had told her about the burying of the bodies and how Kyoshi had discovered that Isabella was telling her things she shouldn't have.

"That's when I ran out of here and thank god Ryuuji was down there. I told him to take me to his mansion to stop all of you. And...well, you know the rest." She finished by pushing a strand of hair on the back of her ear and looked down. The ballroom scene ran vividly through her head. Mai bit her lip hard and shook her head slightly.

"I don't understand why the basement would be warped if Isabella wasn't bad. Unless..." Bou-san let his sentence hang, trying to push off the thought of something he hated. Ayako glanced at him and then back to the floor.

"Unless that's where he killed himself..." She turned to Naru and asked him a silent question. Naru frowned slightly, going through his memory and shook his head. Lin stood up straight and looked at his companions.

"The report says that he hung himself, but gave no exact location as to where. Your theory may be correct, Matsuzaki-san." Lin looked down at Naru. "Do you want us to go back and continue searching? Or are we done for the day?" The others also looked at Naru. They were tired and hoped that he would let them rest, even if there was some homicidal spirit after them.

"We're going to need our strength if you expect us to beat this thing, Naru-bou. So, how about you let us get some rest?" Bou-san asked, the others glad that he had suggested it.

Naru shook his head slightly. "We have a deadline. You all know that, but seeing how we do need to be in good shape of mind for that...I suppose you can. Bou-san. Matsuzaki-san, make sure to put up wards in your rooms and that of the others. I have a feeling that Mai might have made _Kyoshi_," Naru almost spit his name out with disgust, "angry by thwarting his means to attack us."

"I want to stay with Mai-chan!" Kagome told him. Ryuuji nodded as if agreeing. Naru shook his head again and looked at Kagome straight in the eye, slightly glaring at Ryuuji from the corner of his eyes. "It's best if you go home, Misaki-san."

Kagome looked like she wanted to protest but stopped short at her brother's look. She sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine, but you won't be able to stop me from coming over tomorrow for her." She stuck her tongue out at him and went over to Mai to hug her. "Goodnight Mai! And don't go spirit walking or whatever at my house, alright?" She winked at her and headed out of the room. Ryuuji looked as if he wanted to hug her too but thought better of it and bade a small goodnight before following his sister out, closing the door behind him.

"What about you, Naru?" Masako asked, her sleeve over her mouth. Mai looked down again and struggled to control her emotions. Naru glanced at her and looked back at Masako.

"I'm going to stay behind for a while. Lin will stay with me. I'm certain that you can all take care of yourselves without my being there. Am I wrong to assume this, Hara-san?" He smirked at her slightly and crossed his arms over his chest. Masako stared at him for sometime then nodded.

"Fine. We'll get going now. But Naru, I would like to talk to you afterward." By this point she had turned around and stopped in front of the door, hand on the doorknob. The others were silent. Mai bit her lip and clenched her fists.

"No, Hara-san. The one who needs to talk to _you_ is _me_." Naru said, and if Mai had looked up to see his face, she would've seen something serious and would have noticed that what he had told Masako had a very definite meaning.

Masako hesitated for a second but opened the door and walked out. Bou-san, Ayako, and John exchanged glances. They hesitated for a second and bade Mai, Naru, and Lin goodnight before leaving.

Mai wondered why Naru decided to stay knowing that he always tried to solve the case as soon as possible. Even if he was sick or close to death, that wouldn't stop him from continuing with the case, trying to find the culprit.

"How did you know the name of the entity, Mai?" Naru asked her a minute after the others had left. Mai sighed. _'So that's why he stayed. Idiot Naru' _Mai looked at him and sighed tiredly.

"She told me. Naru...why did you stay? I could have told you anything you wanted tomorrow. I _am_ going back tomorrow, you know." She rolled her eyes. Mai laid back and closed her eyes. She felt Naru shift his position but didn't make a move to open her eyes.

"Anything? Hm, Alright. Lin, do me a favor and leave me alone with Mai." Naru said as he looked over at Lin with a smirk on his face. Mai sat up alarmed, her eyes were as wide as saucers.

"Wait, w-what? No...Lin!" She put her hand up as if to stop him but almost cried a waterfall when the door shut behind him. Mai had just realized her mistake of agreeing to tell him anything, which meant he _would_ pretty much ask anything.

"It's pretty late! I think I should..." Mai stopped in the middle of her sentence as she saw Naru's stern look and sighed. "Fine..."

"Seeing as how you agreed to tell me anything, I want you to explain everything you've experienced at the Misaki's residence since our arrival." Naru smirked at the look of defeat on Mai's face. She sighed yet again hating how slick Naru was with these kinds of things. Seeing no other way out of what she got herself into, she went ahead and told him everything from the beginning, from their arrival to their current position.

Naru, who listened intently, said nothing at first, his face emotionless. That's what frustrated Mai the most, the incapability of being able to see what he was thinking. She had laid back again and closed her eyes. All was quiet except for the constant beep of her IV and Naru's quiet breathing. Finally, in his most quiet and serious voice, Naru sliced the silence in half.

"You need to go home, Mai." This froze the young brunette on her bed. _'Leave and let everyone else solve this case with a possibility of them getting hurt? Fat chance' _Mai scoffed and opened her eyes to focus on her egotistic boss.

"You know I won't do that, Naru. I can't! Isabella and every other poor soul trapped in that mansion needs me and I _won't_ abandon them!" She scowled at him and sat up, her posture rigid and defiant.

Naru looked at her, letting anger show in his eyes. He too sat rigidly in his chair. Mai's passion of helping others was something that was admired by him and others but from this passion came the carelessness of herself and this frustrated him more than anything. Naru knew of the dangers of this case but also felt something else was there and didn't like it one bit.

"I won't let you get hurt again, Mai. I've seen that happen to you already many times already." His voice rose a notch, his anger woven tightly into it. Mai's scowl didn't falter and she stood up from the bed. Her hands lay at her sides clenched into tight fists, nails digging into her skin and making crescent shapes on her palm.

"I'll be more careful, Naru. I've already made up my mind and I won't leave until I've helped all those people that are trapped there and there is nothing you can do about it!" She told him trying her best to keep quiet but failed miserably. _'You won't stop me this time!' _She thought to herself. Naru stood up from his chair and towered over her.

"You're willing to risk the life of our child to save dead people? You've already almost lost him twice, Mai Taniyama! I _will not_ let you end his life in one of your little heroic deeds!" His voice was louder than hers, his eyes no longer angry but furious and as soon as those words came out of his mouth, he instantly regretted them. The look on Mai's face was beyond shock and worst of all, sadness. It was so deep that he might as well have stabbed her through her stomach, even that thought made Naru wince hurtfully.

Mai's arms had instinctively wrapped themselves around her stomach. Tears ran down her cheeks and she trembled. As soon as this image of her was imprinted into his brain, Naru vowed that he would never want to see her like that again. He took a quick step over to her and hugged her tightly against him as if his life depended it on it.

"I'm sorry, Mai. But I just can't let you go back there knowing that you will get hurt again. Seeing you in this hospital twice already has been more than enough for me, but also knowing that you are carrying something that is part of me as well as you, terrifies me even more. I do not want to lose you or my baby." His last words were so convicted yet fragile that Mai only cried more. She hugged him back tightly not wanting to stop feeling his warmth. _'He cares. He really cares about both of us...'_

They stayed there holding each other for what seemed to be an eternity. Naru ran his hands through Mai's hair, caressing it softly while she slowly stopped sobbing. Once she had completely stopped, Naru unwrapped his arms from around her and lead her to lay down on her bed. Mai wiped at her almost-drying tears with the back of her palm and let herself soak in the sight of Naru. She realized with a start that it wasn't a dream or a fantasy. He was actually there and not only that, he confessed about him caring for her and their child. To say that Mai was happy was an understatement. It was far more than happiness that she was feeling.

Naru grabbed a chair and set it next to her bed. His head was muddled with arguments with himself. Should he tell her now or wait until she was out of the hospital? But what if he lost the courage that he had and not tell her afterward? Naru shook his head and tried his best to erase the scowl on his face. He glanced at Mai and saw that she was looking at him. On a sudden impulse, Naru reached for her hand and held it gently but firmly in his. _'Its now or never...'_

"Mai...there's something that I need to tell you." Naru paused for a minute and Mai frowned slightly. She immediately started worrying about him. Did she do something wrong? Was he okay? Those and many other questions flew around her head like the speed of light, but she managed to grasp at two and speak them out.

"Naru, are you alright? Is everything okay?" She gave his hand a soft squeeze while looking at him trying to find any sign of something really bad, but all she saw was worry in his eyes. Naru looked down at the floor briefly then looked back up at Mai, his gaze intense.

"Mai, I'm not who you think I am." Naru started out, his throat threatening to constrict but he somehow got around that. He held up his other hand and stopped Mai from saying anything. "No, listen. What I have to tell you is really important and if you interrupt...I might not be able to finish."

Mai's mouth closed almost immediately but doubt played in her eyes. Naru inhaled deeply through his nose and slowly let it out. "Like I said, I'm not who you think I am, Mai. My name is not Kazuya Shibuya. It's Oliver Davis. I came here to Japan with one very important reason in mind. But you have to know somethings first." Naru paused as he saw Mai's eyes widen and her mouth open to say something.

"Don't interrupt Mai, just let me finish first. Questions and answers come later. As I was saying, I don't live here in Japan. Well, I did but that was before my parents died. My brother and I were very young and had no other family to take care of us. As a result, we were put in an orphanage in a small town. A British couple happened to be there on business and for some reason they went to the orphanage and there, they met us. A few weeks passed and my brother and I forgot about them. Not long after, we found out that the same couple who talked to us briefly some weeks before wanted to adopt us. Once the paper work was signed, we moved to England." Naru found himself staring at the wall across from him, his head filling up with memories both painful and not.

"They changed our names to Oliver and Eugene Davis afterward. Strange things started happening at the house we lived in and with that I found out what my adoptive parents work was. Ghost hunting." Again Naru paused but urged himself to continue. "They investigated what was going on and found out that the source of the problem was me. Everything that shook in our bedrooms or the things that flew across the room with plenty of force was _my_ doing. Apparently I had massive amounts of PK powers which varied. My father helped me to better control my sudden surges of power after seeing that they took a great toll out of me. Madoka, who's friends with my parents, was the one that taught me and Eugene everything that had to do with ghost hunting, PK occurrences, and other supernatural things. Though Eugene did not have PK powers, the supernatural intrigued him."

Naru shifted in his seat and avoided looking at Mai. "My brother and I both graduated from high school at an early age and went to the college that our father worked in. Two and a half years later we got our Master's degree in science. People were all amazed at our accomplishments but they never knew about my special talents," Naru smiled ruefully at that and continued, "Somehow the things I could do slipped out and every scientist began to challenge my 'so-called' PK powers. This attracted the media's attention and even though they caught what I did on cameras, my parents forbade them from revealing who I was in an attempt to keep my life as normal as possible, but that never really worked seeing as how Eugene and I were invited to almost every scientific meeting there was and including few meetings of supernatural happenings around the world."

Naru's jaw clenched as he got nearer to the part that hurt him most to talk about. "There was a certain meeting that I couldn't attend with Eugene about new advances in the supernatural world here in Japan. Eugene came here for me and met up with a variety of other fellow scientists while I was to join my father." The raven haired teen paused to take a very much needed deep breath. "On the night that my brother was to return...I had a horrible nightmare of me watching him get ran over by a car while crossing the street and then being thrown into a lake. But I wasn't exactly watching him...I _was_ him. I _felt _the pain he went through that night. I woke up with a start and tried to comfort myself with thinking that it was just a dream. The next day I found out that Eugene's flight had arrived but that he had not gotten on it. Days passed and turned into weeks and he was still not found. I finally got tired of waiting and decided that I would come and look for him. My parents tried to tell me that maybe he was still alive somewhere but I told them of my dream and they didn't try to stop me when I started packing my bags. But that didn't stop them from sending me here with a chaperon. Someone they could trust with keeping an eye on me. Lin, at that time, was working for my father and offered himself to take care of me."

"Not long after, we arrived in Japan. I knew that I couldn't just start an open investigation to look for my brother so I decided that I would open my own psychic research business to use as a cover. I also changed my name as to not attract attention from the media that was sure to drown me in questions if I revealed who I was. I searched while working on small cases that took me to open areas and as fate would have it, one of the cases that I accepted belonged to your school. After I hired you and the closer I got to you and the rest of team, the harder it became for me to tell you the truth. I tried, Mai, I really did try..." He let his sentence hang and slowly turned to look at the brunette that was laying down on the bed.

She was quiet. Too quiet, even for her. Naru immediately started to worry about what she was thinking and about what she would say. He tried his best not to push her and to let her register what he had just revealed to her. It seemed like hours before she looked up at him and for the first time, Naru found himself unable to read Mai. Which was strange seeing as how he had dubbed her his 'open book'.

Mai looked at him and said nothing for another while. Then finally she opened her mouth as though if she hadn't used it in a while and caught Naru so off-guard with her next question. "Have found out anything that might help you find him?" That question alone was enough to stun him into a complete and blanked out silence.

Naru recovered as quickly as he could and shook his head miserably. "No...nothing. Everything that I find that might help me find his body or that lake, ended up leading me to a dead end. But Mai...is that all you're going to ask me? Aren't you mad at me?" He asked and dreading the answer, he clenched his hands into tight fists for Mai had let go of his hand somewhere in between his story.

Mai's eyes, which had been devoid of any emotion, quickly gave hints of anger and something else. "Of _course_ I'm angry that you hadn't told us _any_ of this sooner. Hell, you could have told us the day we met you Naru...or should I call you _Oliver_ now?" Naru winced at this and closed his eyes trying his best to hide his pain. If he was going to be hated, he'd rather not show that it had really affected him much.

"Yes I'm angry about all of this, but...I'm also glad that you confessed to me before it got too late." Mai took his hand and gave it a tight squeeze. "Naru...I believe you when you say that you tried. I know what it's like to experience a death that's not yours and it _hurts_...but there's also another reason as to why I'm not as upset as I should be at you."

Naru snapped his eyes open and looked at her, hoping that it was something good. "And what exactly is that reason?" He whispered, his was very small and sounded almost weak. Hearing this made Mai's stomach clench and she pushed the covers away from her torso and sat up in front of Naru.

"I love you too much to be mad at you for something that you just confessed to me that was hard enough to talk about as it is." Mai's voice was equally small and she hugged him harder than ever. Naru was surprised for a moment, but he hugged her back, too stunned to say anything.

Mai snapped her eyes open and pulled away from him just as quickly. "But what about Masako? Explain that to me. I thought you two were going out. I mean, you guys were kissing in your office that time when I went to take you your tea..." Mai's eyes had quickly glazed over with a deep sadness that hurt Naru just as much as her.

"No. We never were together, Mai. She had met Eugene somewhere and assumed it was me, but somehow she found out that he was my brother and threatened me with revealing that to you and everybody else if I didn't play along, but the kiss you saw was so sudden I didn't have time to push her away. When you saw it, the damage was done and I..." He didn't finish it knowing that he would come up with a very selfish excuse as _'I didn't want her to reveal it so I just let you be sad in exchange of my secret being kept that. A secret' _He winced at his own thought.

"So you had rather kept your secret instead of explaining to me what was going on? What the hell, _Davis_?! You know I went exactly through _that_ thinking that you had just used me as something to pass your time with!" Mai tried her best to keep her voice low but all the depression and anger that she held for that whole clueless month was getting to her.

"Through what?" Naru asked and flinched inwardly to the way she said his real last name. Mai threw her hands up in the air in exasperation and stood up. "HELL!" She screamed, her breaths coming in shallow.

Naru stood up and tried to calm her down. "I was already planning to end that agreement, Mai. You want to know exactly _why_ I didn't tell you sooner why I was really here and why I changed my name?" This, surprisingly enough, caught Mai's full attention and her anger dissipated somewhat.

"What?" Her voice was no longer loud but traces of the previous outburst were still there.

"I was _afraid_, Mai. Afraid of what you and the others were going to think of me. Wait, no. Yes, I was worried of what they were going to tell me, but I was afraid of what _you_ were going to think of me. I didn't know if you were going to scream at me and never want to talk to ever again. And you know, before I didn't understand why that was making me hesitate, but now I do, Mai. I _love_ you and just the mere thought of you leaving me while hating me at the same time is something that I know I can't bear. I just _can't_. I thought I didn't need love anymore knowing that my brother is dead...but _you're_ making it very difficult for me to go on without it.

Mai gaped, her cheeks a light shade of red. "You...you love me?" She looked at him as if he had grown two heads, three arms, and five more legs. Naru smiled softly at her and grabbed her, pulling him to her. He hugged her tightly once again.

"Of course I love you...idiot." He spoke softly into her ear. Mai was about to protest but was defeated with his second most important confession of the day. _'He loves me' _She thought somewhat mesmerized. She replayed the scene over and over again of him explaining what was going on and something caught her attention that she had failed to understand.

"Wait," She pulled back away from him again, but let him keep his arms on her waist, "you said that Masako confused you for your brother. How could that be? Do you two look alot like each other or what?"

"More than that, Mai." He blinked at her. "Me and Eugene are identical twins."

**~////~**

The next day had found Naru asleep with Mai on her bed, his arms wrapped around her protectively. Lin, who had been at the lobby that night, went to check on them after and hour or so of waiting. He found them like that. Each one peacefully asleep with the other. Lin smirked at seeing Naru protecting Mai even in his sleep. Though this hadn't surprised him much, it was still kind of something new to see.

Lin decided that he was better to stay there and watch over them rather than staying down at the lobby and looking like an idiot just sitting there staring at the wall. He woke up and rubbed his stiff neck from falling asleep on a chair and looked at both teens on the bed. They had not moved from their positions and still looked peaceful enough. Lin actually smiled and got up to use Mai's restroom, which he didn't think she would mind. He did his business then washed his face in the sink and stared at the mirror before he felt something vibrate in his pant pockets.

He flipped his phone open and talked quietly into the small microphone. "Hello? Oh good morning, Madoka....No she's fine...Yes Naru wanted to come over and we both ended up staying the night over...Yes, I think that'd be a good idea...I'll talk to Misaki-san about that, there's something I need for you to do...Actually it's very important but you have to come to the hospital to know...Okay...Bye." He snapped his phone shut and went out of the bathroom to wake his 'boss' up.

He stepped quietly into the room and walked to the side where Naru was sleeping and shook him gently. Naru's eyes fluttered open slowly and focused on him. Without a word he untangled himself from Mai as gently as possible and stood up. They both headed out of her room and stood next to her door.

"What is it, Lin?" Naru asked while running a hand through his hair. It was hard to tell that not a minute before Naru was sound asleep, somehow he usually wakes up without puffy tired eyes, disheveled hair, or pillow marks on his face. Lin resisted to shake his head.

"Madoka just called, we both think it's a good idea for her to stay at the mansion instead of the hotel. I also think it would be good for her to be the one to take care of Mai if you don't want to anybody else to know about her being pregnant, so I told her to come to brief her about that here." Lin said in a business-like way.

Naru nodded after a while. "You're right. If more people know about this it could further expose her and I don't want that. Madoka will have to take care of her at the mansion because both of us know that Mai will refuse to leave." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. "I really don't want her to be anywhere near that place."

"I understand, but Mai can be as stubborn as you. Let's hope the baby doesn't come out that way." Lin chuckled softly and stopped short when Naru smiled gently.

"Yeah...hopefully it won't." Naru said as he looked through the small window that was carved into the wooden door, then shifted his gaze behind Lin and quickly composed his facial expression.

"Good morning!" Madoka smiled at both Naru and Lin and stopped next to them. "So what's my next job, Lin?" She looked at the tall Chinese man and tilted her head to the side. Lin glanced Naru and gave him a slight nod. Both of them started explain what was going with Mai and told her what they wanted her to do. Madoka was quiet for a moment before she shot a glare at Naru.

"You better take responsibility for both her and your child, Oliver Davis, or so help me I'll--" Madoka was interrupted by a wave of Naru's hand.

"Don't worry about that. I _will _take responsibility for both of them. And not unwillingly either." Naru glared at Madoka and turned to Lin. "I want you to keep one of your shiki always with Mai and for Ayako to make some protective wards around Mai's room." He turned back to Madoka. "You're going to be staying in the same room as her. I'm not going to take any chances at all." His tone held a finality to it and both adults knew there was going to be no arguing with him and they said nothing.

"Is she awake? I want to see her!" Madoka suddenly said and looked into the small window. "Hm. She's not on the bed. Maybe she is awake then." She opened the door and went inside, Lin and Naru followed suit and looked around the room. The bathroom door was slightly ajar.

"Mai?" Madoka knocked the door and opened it when started hearing whispering from inside. "Mai, honey, are you okay?" Madoka stepped inside and saw that Mai was running the water in the faucet and was swishing it around her mouth. Mai turned around after she was done and smiled at her.

"Totally fine. Well except the fact that I just puked." She laughed and went over to hug Madoka. Then looked over at Lin and Naru and smiled at them. "Um...I'm kinda hungry." She smiled sheepishly and let go of Madoka.

"Well of course you are! That's what being pregnant is mostly about!" Madoka laughed and stopped when Mai looked at her in shock. "Don't worry honey, I won't tell anyone. I've been reprimanded of such a thing. From now I'll be your personal nanny, I guess." She smiled again and was glad that Mai was smiling at her too, although it was a little embarrassed.

"So...when did you find out that I'm pregnant?" Mai asked as she walked back to her bed and sat down on the edge. Naru placed himself next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Madoka couldn't help but squeak a little in happiness.

"Just a little while ago, but you can't imagine how happy I am to find out that I'm going to be an aunt, which you have to let me be please, and also to see that Naru here has found people he truly loves. Well, one little person who is currently growing and beautiful brunette to be exact." She laughed when she saw Mai blush and place a hand over Naru's, which was resting on her stomach. "How cute!" The happy-go-lucky woman exclaimed while hooking her arm around Lin's.

Naru reached over and pressed a button that was next to Mai's bed and a few minutes later a nurse walked in. "Is there something I can help you with?" She looked at the couple that was sitting on the bed.

"Yes. My wife is hungry. Would you mind bringing her release papers? We're going to take her out to eat." The nurse paused then nodded and headed out of the room. The others in the room gawked at the raven haired boy who looked as if he had said something normal.

"W-wife? But I'm not your wife?" She looked at him uncertainly while blushing a deeper color than before. Naru simply shrugged and a small smile made its way to the corners of his mouth and looked down at the young brunette he was holding gently.

"Maybe not. But you soon will be...idiot. I thought you would've figured that out by yourself." He teased her and saw how she began to take the bait. Her confused look changed and turned into one of mild annoyance,

"Hey! I'm not an idiot. And well...I didn't think that far. Besides, what about Kagome? She said she was going to come for me today." She looked away from him, her blush returning. The two adults stood there watching their exchange and looked at each other. Amusement danced in Lin's eyes and Madoka giggled quietly. They both knew that that was as close as Naru was going to get in asking Mai to marry him. In fact, they were even sure that the brunette was sure of that herself because she didn't protest, instead she leaned back and layed her head on Naru's shoulder.

The nurse came in with the papers and handed them to Naru, who signed them. "Change out of that. We'll call Misaki-san and tell her that her picking you up will be unnecessary." Mai nodded and got up to change in the bathroom. Naru followed her but stopped when Mai turned to him and blushed again.

"What are you doing? I'm going to change. I can do that by myself, besides don't you need to get the car started or something?" She glanced at Madoka and Lin who were watching them and trying hard not to smile.

Naru raised and eyebrow. "I'm sure Lin can get the car started just fine without me. I'm simply going in with you to make sure you don't wander off in spirit or something of the sort." He smirked and leaned down close to her face. "Besides, it's not like I haven't seen you..._bare_ before, Mai Taniyama." Naru hadn't whispered that and Mai knew that both Lin and Madoka had heard that. Instead of getting embarrassed she stood up straight and almost glared at him, though there was happiness at the edge of her voice.

"Doesn't mean you'll soon see me like that again, Oliver Davis!" She smirked and closed the bathroom door on Naru. He frowned at not being able to have a chance to see her like that again. _'Oh well, they'll be plenty of other times'_ He thought as he smiled knowing that waiting for _that_ wasn't going to be hard for him at all. The young ghost hunter heard snickering behind him and a late response by Madoka.

"Wait. She knows?!" She gaped at Lin and Naru turned around to look at her with an eyebrow raised his facial expression almost saying _'Uh duh! She just called me by my real name!' _But knowing Naru it would've been something more like _'No shit, idiot'_

**~////~**

They had arrived back at the mansion about half an hour later. Kagome was upset that she wasn't able to pick her up but that small tantrum was soon gone when she hugged Mai and pulled her inside. "God! You were supposed to help me with the decorations for the party remember?" She told Mai. "But I saw how busy you were along with those frequent trips to the hospital, so I'm letting you off the hook. You don't have to help me, Mai." She smiled at her and lead her to the dining room.

Everyone was already sitting down but got up fast and hugged Mai, welcoming her back from the hospital. Everyone execpt Masako, who stood up but put a sleeve over her mouth, an obvious gesture that she was upset.

"Okay, okay. You can all sit back down now, you know! Besides, I'm really hungry. What's for breakfast?" Mai laughed as they all gave her a funny look but proceeded to happily sit down next to Bou-san and tried not to blush when Naru seated himself next to him and grabbed her hand under the table. They all ate and chatted happily, throwing jokes here and there. They had stopped eating but continued talking before Naru interrupted.

"May I remind you all that we have a case to wrap up before tomorrow?" Naru asked while trying to keep his voice steady. He had enough to worry about as it is and letting his team just lay back while knowing that Mai's life was in danger along with the rest of the people currently inhabiting the house, was enough to make him kind of angry, but he had enough self-control not to show it _entirely_.

Bou-san glanced at Mai then sighed. "He's right. Not only are we going to have to try to protect ourselves, but if this extends until tomorrow we're going to have to be careful with all the other people that are going to attend that party."

Naru had forgotten all about the party that Kagome had so badly arranged in that same week that they were investigating and glared at the person responsible. "I think you should cancel that party instead, Misaki-san. We don't have the time to host a social gathering while trying to exorcise this house, you know." For the first time, Mai noticed that he sounded tired but everybody else seemed not to take note on that.

"No! I can't! Everything is already set. Decorators are on their way already and should be arriving here any minute to start--" Kagome had started to say and is of on a cue, the doorbell rang. Seconds later, a maid stepped inside the dining room and announced that some people from a party decorating company had just arrived asking for Kagome.

"See?" Kagome asked as she headed out of the dining room. "It's too late now to go back. I know it's a little over the top to ask, but please try to solve whatever is happening in this place before tomorrow..." A little bit of regret passed through Kagome's eyes as she turned around and disappeared into the entrance hall. Mai looked over at Naru and saw that he was angry. She quickly squeezed his hand and saw that it seemed to calm him down a bit.

"We'll solve this one quick, Naru. I'm sure of it." Mai encouraged him with a smile and looked around at the others. "I know we can. We have to help everyone who's trapped here." She looked around, a frown tugging the corners of her mouth and slightly wrinkling her forehead. "We have to save them and stop Kyoshi from doing any further damage to anyone else."

They all nodded in agreement and got up to get on with looking for any sign that Kyoshi was present. Lin, Madoka, Naru, and Mai headed to the base and looked over at all the cameras and listening to the recordings from the previous night to see if they heard anything unusual. And that's exactly what they heard. Mai shuddered and grabbed onto Naru's arm when a cluster of moans and pleas for help swarmed into the room.

"That's horrible..." Mai whispered, both feeling afraid and sad for all those people that were yearning to be let out of the prison they got trapped in. Naru slipped his arms around Mai in an attempt to comfort her. "We're going to help them, right Naru?" She looked up at him, her eyes revealing sadness.

"Yes. Yes we are and hopefully soon." Naru answered successfully covering his slight doubt. The others had returned by then and were quiet at hearing the ghostly pleas and seeing the exchange between the young teens. The raven haired boy turned back to them and signaled his Chinese assistant to turn off the microphones.

"This sounds really bad, Naru-bou." Bou-san sat down, his face as serious as ever. "What are we going to do? We just go around blindly exorcising every room in this house. That's as dangerous as not doing anything at all."

Naru let go of Mai but still held her hand as he leaded them to the couch. "You're right. We're going to have to bait it somehow or wait for it to appear. But before we do any off that, I need to tell you all something. Actually three things. And all are equally important." He glanced at Mai, who in turn gave him and encouraging nod while squeezing his hand.

"Oh? And what would that be, Naru?" Ayako asked, sitting down next to Bou-san, but not caring and waiting to know what he was going to reveal.

"First of all, Mai's in real danger. Second," He paused to turn his head over to Mai and planting a gentle kiss on her lips, then turned back to them, "Masako, the idiotic deal is off. And the third..." He paused once again and looked at the shocked and expectant faces of the rest of the team members, excluding Madoka and Lin of course.

"I'm not who you think I am. My real name is Oliver Davis."

* * *

**Finally! The chapter that you have all been waiting for!! I know that I totally screwed up and didn't update sooner. But you should really thank my twin for my posting this chapter up. Once I told her that I'm a sort of author, she almost punched me and told me to work on it! LOL**

**Well, I have ideas for the next chapter too, but then again I'm also working on other stories. So please, please, please bear with me!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I think that I made some major OOCness and some mistakes, and if you do see that please message me and give me some advice on that.**

**Well hope to update soon and RxR please!**

--3uphoria


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